botanize

American  

[bot-n-ahyz] / ˈbɒt nˌaɪz /

especially British, botanise

verb (used without object)

botanized, botanizing

1. to study plants or plant life.

2. to collect plants for scientific study.

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verb (used with object)

botanized, botanizing

1. to explore botanically; study the plant life of.

botanize British  

/ ˈbɒtəˌnaɪz /

verb

1. (intr) to collect or study plants

2. (tr) to explore and study the plants in (an area or region)

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Other Word Forms

• botanizer noun

Etymology

Origin of botanize

1760–70; < New Latin botanizāre < Greek botanízein to gather plants. See botanist, -ize

Example Sentences

She liked to botanize, collecting specimens of plants along the route.

From National Geographic • Jul. 2, 2017

I never dig up my dead and I never botanize on the graves of the past.

From The Kingdom Round the Corner A Novel by Dawson, Coningsby

We would bury both theological rancor and atheistical pretension in the same barrow, and agree never to "peep and botanize" over their common grave.

From Life: Its True Genesis by Wright, R. W.

I botanize and I bathe in a little icy torrent.

From The George Sand-Gustave Flaubert Letters by McKenzie, Aimée G. Leffingwel

One, all eyes,   Philosopher! a fingering slave,   One that would peep and botanize   Upon his mother's grave?

From Lyrical Ballads with Other Poems, 1800, Volume 2 by Wordsworth, William