thistle

American  

[this-uhl] / ˈθɪs əl /

noun

1. any of various prickly, composite plants having showy, purple flower heads, especially of the genera Cirsium, Carduus, or Onopordum.

2. any of various other prickly plants.

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Thistle ¹ British  

/ ˈθɪsəl /

noun

1. See Order of the Thistle

2. (sometimes not capital)

   1. the emblem of this Order

   2. membership of this Order

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thistle ² British  

/ ˈθɪsəl /

noun

1. any of numerous plants of the genera Cirsium, Carduus , and related genera, having prickly-edged leaves, pink, purple, yellow, or white dense flower heads, and feathery hairs on the seeds: family Asteraceae (composites)

2. a thistle, or a representation of one, as the national emblem of Scotland

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Other Word Forms

• thistlelike adjective
• thistly adjective

Etymology

Origin of thistle

before 900; Middle English thistel, Old English; cognate with Dutch distel, German Distel, Old Norse thistill

Example Sentences

Adidas' iconic three stripes feature along the shoulders and down the sleeves and a purple and green thistle motif, symbolising Scotland's national flower, is on the reverse collar.

From BBC

It had a hole I could stick my thumb through, and bits of thistle somehow poked through the stitches.

From Literature

The florist-by-trade gestures behind her to hundreds of flowers contained in buckets — blue thistles, ivory anemones and calla lilies painted silver — all twisted and unfurling into the air.

From Los Angeles Times

Among England's Tudor rose, Scotland's thistle, the Welsh leek and the Irish shamrock are the Canadian maple leaf and India's lotus flower.

From BBC

But Russian thistle is a monstrous piece of botanical grotesquerie, loathed by all.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• arrow
• dart