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jack-in-the-pulpit

[ jak-in-thuh-pool-pit, -puhl- ]

noun

, plural jack-in-the-pul·pits.
  1. A North American plant, Arisaema triphyllum, of the arum family, having an upright spadix arched over by a green or striped purplish-brown spathe.


jack-in-the-pulpit

noun

  1. an E North American aroid plant, Arisaema triphyllum , having a leaflike spathe partly arched over a clublike spadix
  2. another name for cuckoopint
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Word History and Origins

Origin of jack-in-the-pulpit1

An Americanism dating back to 1840–50
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Example Sentences

We didn’t get lucky on our April hike, but we did spot plenty of jack-in-the-pulpit, a hooded plant also called the bog onion.

A native jack-in-the-pulpit was raised over four years from seed.

These included aroids as diverse as the beautifully colored Japanese jack-in-the-pulpit and the corpse flower, a gigantic stinking plant from Sumatra whose blooming has become a crowd-pulling event in botanical gardens around the world.

The jack-in-the-pulpit had the same kind of trouble.

It’s called jack-in-the-pulpit because “it looks like someone’s standing inside of it,” he says.

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jack-in-the-greenJack Ketch