tulipomania

[ too-luh-puh-mey-nee-uh, -meyn-yuh ]

noun

1. (in 17th-century Holland) a widespread obsession with tulips, especially of highly prized varieties, as those of a streaked, variegated, or unusual color.

Word History and Origins

Origin of tulipomania¹

First recorded in 1700–10; tulip + -o- + -mania

Example Sentences

Tulips have enchanted gardeners for hundreds of years, feeding a passion that got out of hand in 17th-century Holland when people lost first their heads and then their fortunes over the craze known as Tulipomania.

From Seattle Times

What people forget, says Nicholson, as she walks along the paths of Blacklands, her 120-acre estate in Wiltshire, England, a 90-minute drive west of London, is that tulips were an aesthetic fixation long before tulipomania — and remained so long after.

From New York Times

In 17th-century Holland, it was responsible for the frenzy called tulipomania, which drove bulb prices to absurd levels and is now shorthand for ruinous economic bubbles.

From New York Times

As Mike Dash notes in Tulipomania, the philosopher Justus Lipsius wasn't impressed by the tulip collectors.

From BBC

“The Tulipomania” tracks the introduction of tulips into Europe, the particular passion of the Dutch for these flowers, and the increasingly vast sums paid to acquire rare examples.

From Washington Post