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Jack-in-the-pulpit

Definition of Jack-in-the-pulpit

noun

  • either of two small plants of the arum family:
    • another term for cuckoo pint a North American arum with a green or purple-brown spathe (Arisaema triphyllum, family Araceae).

Origin:

mid 19th century: so named because the erect spadix overarched by the spathe resembles a person in a pulpit

Jack-in-the-pulpit in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of Jack-in-the-pulpit in the US English dictionary