lavender

noun, adj, verb — 7 senses

lavender

noun

UK /ˈlæv.ən.dəː/ · US /ˈlæv.ən.dɚ/

Etymology From Middle English lavendre, from Anglo-Norman lavendre (French lavande), from Medieval Latin lavendula, possibly from Latin lividus (“bluish”), but influenced by lavō (“to wash”) due to the use of lavender in washing clothes.

1

Any of a group of European plants, genus, Lavandula, of the mint family.

2

A pale bluish purple colour, like that of the lavender flower.

3

Broadcasting, Film, Media, Television Historical A kind of film stock used for creating positive prints from negatives as part of the process of duplicating the negatives.

Derived terms
cotton lavender, desert lavender, English lavender, fernleaf lavender, French lavender, fringed lavender, Lavender Bay, lavender cotton, lavender foal syndrome, lavenderish, lavender thrift, lavender water, lavendery, lay in lavender, lay up in lavender, rock sea lavender, sea lavender, Spanish lavender, spike lavender
Related terms
launder
Hyponyms
common lavender

lavender

adj

Etymology From Middle English lavendre, from Anglo-Norman lavendre (French lavande), from Medieval Latin lavendula, possibly from Latin lividus (“bluish”), but influenced by lavō (“to wash”) due to the use of lavender in washing clothes.

1

Having a pale purple colour.

2

Pertaining to LGBT people and rights.

  • “Now in here,” their guide, sweating dark tentacles into his tab collar, briefed them, “you are going to see the members of the third sex, the lavender crowd this city by the Bay is so justly famous for.1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 5, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 81:
  • My sother (significant other) and I have been together almost nineteen years. Exactly half of the usual wedding vows taken traditionally by non-lavender couples — for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, — have been characteristic of our relationship.1981 August 22, Nancy Walker, “Still Coming Out, After All These Years”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 6, page 11:
3

Government, Politics Pertaining to lesbian feminism; opposing heterosexism.

Derived terms
lavender ceiling, lavender-collar, lavender lad, lavender linguistics, lavender marriage, lavender menace, lavender scare

lavender

verb

Etymology From Middle English lavendre, from Anglo-Norman lavendre (French lavande), from Medieval Latin lavendula, possibly from Latin lividus (“bluish”), but influenced by lavō (“to wash”) due to the use of lavender in washing clothes.

1

To decorate or perfume with lavender.

  • Short shafts of dying sunlight mingled with the deepening grey, lavendering the horizon, and all nature seemed to hush as though waiting to welcome the night.1986, Katherine Gibson Fougera, With Custer's Cavalry, page 47:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.