Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Showing results for wake-robin. Search instead for wake-robins.

wake-robin

American  
[weyk-rob-in] / ˈweɪkˌrɒb ɪn /

noun

  1. the cuckoopint.

  2. any of various plants belonging to the genus Trillium, native to eastern North America, of the lily family, as T. erectum, having rank-smelling purple, yellow, or white flowers.


wake-robin British  

noun

  1. any of various North American herbaceous plants of the genus Trillium, such as T. grandiflorum, having a whorl of three leaves and three-petalled solitary flowers: family Trilliaceae

  2. any of various aroid plants, esp the 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

Etymology

Origin of wake-robin

First recorded in 1520–30

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Some brought handfuls of columbine from rocky nooks, and others the purple trillium, that is near of kin to Burroughs's white "wake-robin."

From Nature's Serial Story by Roe, Edward Payson

On the three-leaved table which once carried the gay flower of the wake-robin, there was a scarlet lump like a red pepper escaped to the forest and run wild.

From Little Rivers; a book of essays in profitable idleness by Van Dyke, Henry

There was a delicious odor of sweet-shrub in the air, and the fruity fragrance of the dark, wild wake-robin underfoot.

From The Mountain Girl by Erskine, Payne

At the same time, perhaps a day or two earlier, the white oblong petals of the dwarf trillium, or wake-robin, will gleam in the rich woods.

From Some Winter Days in Iowa by Lazell, Frederick John

"Shall we take up this wake-robin?" asked Ethel Blue.

From Ethel Morton's Enterprise by Smith, Mabell S. C. (Mabell Shippie Clarke)