water lily
Americannoun
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any of various aquatic plants of the genus Nymphaea, species of which have large, disklike, floating leaves and showy flowers, especially N. odorata, of America, or N. alba, of Europe.
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any related plant of the genus Nuphar.
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a plant of the water lily family.
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the flower of any such plant.
noun
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any of various aquatic plants of the genus Nymphaea and related genera, of temperate and tropical regions, having large leaves and showy flowers that float on the surface of the water: family Nymphaeaceae
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any of various similar and related plants, such as the yellow water lily
Etymology
Origin of water lily
First recorded in 1540–50
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The mothers spend the days foraging for fruit, nuts, and water lily seeds, while children splash in the river's murky waters.
From Barron's
Since 2008, he had been the director of the Claude Monet Foundation in Giverny, where Monet’s water lily paintings were produced.
From New York Times
There is some food aid, but many in the area survive by foraging for water lily roots and fish to supplement their rations.
From BBC
While down in those murky depths he was harvesting the seeds of a type of water lily called euryale ferox.
From BBC
He's holding a picture that shows how the lake used to look, with much of it covered with water lilies.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
