Subscriber login


Forgot your password?

Library card login

Other

primrose

Syllabification: (prim·rose)
Pronunciation: /ˈprimˌrōz/

Translate primrose | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of primrose

noun

  • a commonly cultivated plant of European woodlands that produces pale yellow flowers in the early spring.
    • Primula vulgaris, family Primulaceae (the primrose family). This family also includes the cowslips, pimpernels, and cyclamens
  • (also primrose yellow) a pale yellow color.

Phrases

primrose path

the pursuit of pleasure, especially when it is seen to bring disastrous consequences:unaware of his doom, he continued down his primrose path
[with allusion to Shakespeare's Hamlet i. iii. 50]

Origin:

late Middle English: compare with Old French primerose and medieval Latin prima rosa, literally 'first rose'

primrose in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of primrose in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

  |  Cite

More words in this category

Word of the day

kempt

/ kɛm(p)t /
adjective
maintained in a neat and clean condition …