Lavender
Lavender , noun
[Old English lavendre, French lavande, Italian lavanda lavender, a washing, from Latin lavare to wash; compare Italian lsavendola, Late Latin lavendula. So called because it was used in bathing and washing. See Lave. to wash, and compare Lavender.]
1.
(Botany) An aromatic plant of the genus Lavandula (Lavandula vera), common in the south of Europe. It yields and oil used in medicine and perfumery. The Spike lavender (Lavandula Spica) yields a coarser oil (oil of spike), used in the arts.
2.
The pale, purplish color of lavender flowers, paler and more delicate than lilac.
Collocations (4)
Lavender cotton (Botany) , a low, twiggy, aromatic shrub (Santolina Chamacyparissus) of the Mediterranean region, formerly used as a vermifuge, etc., and still used to keep moths from wardrobes. Also called ground cypress.
Lavender water , a perfume, toilet water, or shaving lotion containing the essential oil of lavender, and sometimes the essential oil of bergamot, and essence of ambergris.
Sea lavender (Botany) , See Marsh rosemary.
To lay in lavender , (a) To lay away, as clothing, with sprigs of lavender. (b) To pawn. [Obsolete]