bluebottle

American  

[bloo-bot-l] / ˈbluˌbɒt l /

noun

1. cornflower.

2. a composite plant, Centaurea cyanus, having narrow leaves and blue flower heads.

3. bluebottle fly.

4. Australian. Portuguese man-of-war.

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bluebottle British  

/ ˈbluːˌbɒtəl /

noun

1. another name for the blowfly

2. any of various blue-flowered plants, esp the cornflower

3. an informal word for a policeman

4. an informal name for Portuguese man-of-war

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Etymology

Origin of bluebottle

First recorded in 1545–55; blue + bottle ¹

Example Sentences

My mother laughed at me one fateful beach day as she pulled a Pacific man o’ war jellyfish — known in Australia as a bluebottle — from my body as I screamed.

From New York Times • Apr. 10, 2022

Kai Kupferschmidt Mick Grant, a farmer in the United Kingdom, has long raised bluebottle larvae for anglers.

From Science Magazine • Oct. 14, 2015

Elm Farm has produced bluebottle larvae for decades, as bait for recreational fishers.

From Science Magazine • Oct. 14, 2015

At times Sam Brown's production makes Gill's subtext overly apparent: the cast are onstage throughout so that, when Dennis goes to kill a bluebottle, he attacks his father seen praying behind Annemarie Woods's set.

From The Guardian • Oct. 21, 2010

One of them wailed and whispered, the other buzzed like a fat and angry bluebottle at a windowpane, but the voices said, as one person, “Thief! Give it back! Stop! Thief!”

From "Coraline" by Neil Gaiman