squash-blossom

[ skwosh-blos-uhm, skwawsh- ]

adjective

1. indicating or pertaining to a design or configuration resembling the flower of the squash plant, especially as found in jewelry made by various American Indians.

Word History and Origins

Origin of squash-blossom¹

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

There’s so much to entice in the faraway parts of “Getaway”: squash-blossom quesadillas; Castelluccio lentils on toast with fava beans, mint and chèvre; an onion tart with Lancashire cheese; a Calvados and tonic with lemon peel.

From Seattle Times

Later in the meal, that great squash-blossom pesto came back, this time with a small European sole the size of my hand.

From New York Times

Years later I learned that our squash-blossom necklaces and turquoise bracelets, earrings and hair ornaments and silver belts, were sold to white men and women.

From Literature

Her arms were lined with crystal-sounding bracelets; her fingers bulged with bright knobby rings that made black and blue welts all over Shorty’s skin; her svelte lovely neck was circled with dozens of gold and turquoise and squash-blossom beads and baubles and jangles; silver hoops and pearls and jade tongs laughed out loud in her earlobes; she even wore a slim, solid-gold buddy chain around one ankle.

From Literature

Squash-blossom fritters were not the bulbous blobs I’d encountered elsewhere, but pencil-thin, with the Parmesan-laden zucchini filling carefully piped in.

From New York Times