heliotrope

See also: héliotrope

English

a heliotrope (Heliotropium arborescens)

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] French héliotrope, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek ἡλιοτρόπιον (hēliotrópion), from ἥλιος (hḗlios, “sun”) + τρέπω (trépō, “turn”). See also Old English sunnfolgend.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhiːli.əˌtɹoʊp/

Noun

heliotrope (countable and uncountable, plural heliotropes)

Surveying heliotrope (ca.1878): B.A. Colonna collection (NOAA)..

1. (botany) A plant that turns so that it faces the sun.
   1. (botany) Particularly, a purple-flowered plant of the species .
      • 1870, Benjamin Disraeli, Lothair

        As they entered now, it seemed a blaze of roses and carnations, though one recognized in a moment the presence of the lily, the heliotrope, and the stock.

2. A light purple or violet colour.

   heliotrope:  

   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, page 623:

     "...the face of Dr. Willi Dingkopf, framed by a haircut in violation of more than one law of physics, and a vivid necktie in fuchsia, heliotrope, and duck green..."

3. The fragrance of heliotrope flowers.
   • 1881, Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady

     ... he had always smelt so much more of heliotrope than of gunpowder.

   • 1906, O. Henry, The Furnished Room

     Ransacking the drawers of the dresser he came upon a discarded, tiny, ragged handkerchief. He pressed it to his face. It was racy and insolent with heliotrope; [...]

4. (mineralogy) A bloodstone (a variety of quartz).
5. (surveying) An instrument, employed in triangulation, that uses a mirror to reflect sunlight toward another, very distant, surveyor.

Synonyms

• (Heliotropium arborescens): cherry pie, common heliotrope
• (rock): bloodstone

Related terms

• (direction): heliotropism

Translations

plant that turns so that it faces the sun

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: heliotrooppi (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: ηλιοτρόπιο (el) n (iliotrópio)
• Irish: plúr na gréine m
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can

Heliotropium arborescens

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: harilik heliotroop
• Finnish: tuoksuheliotrooppi
• German: Heliotrop m, Vanilleblume f, Sonnenwende (de) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: ηλιοτρόπιο (el) n (iliotrópio)

  Ancient: ἡλιοτρόπιον n (hēliotrópion)

• Japanese: ヘリオトロープ (heriotorōpu)
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: гелиотро́п (ru) m (geliotróp)
• Serbo-Croatian: sunčac (sh) m

colour

• Bulgarian: светловиолетов (svetlovioletov)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: sinivioletti
• Japanese: 薄紫 (うすむらさき, usumurasaki)
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: please add this translation if you can

rock — see bloodstone

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} حَجْر اَلدَّمَ f (ḥajr ad-dama)
• Ido: ^{(please verify)} heliotropo (io)
• Japanese: ヘリオトロープ (heriotorōbu), キダチルリソウ (kidachirisō), ニオイムラサキ (nioimurasaki)
• Latin: ^{(please verify)} heliotropium n
• Malay: ^{(please verify)} heliotrop
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: ^{(please verify)} heliotrópio (pt) m
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} heliotrop (ro) m
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} heliotropo m
• Volapük: ^{(please verify)} heliotrop

Adjective

heliotrope (comparative more heliotrope, superlative most heliotrope)

1. Light purple or violet.
   • 1904, Jerome K. Jerome, Tommy and Co.

     Lady in a heliotrope dress with a lace collar, three flounces on the skirt?

   • 1917, Zane Grey, Wildfire

     And following that was a tortuous passage through a weird region of clay dunes, blue and violet and heliotrope and lavender, all worn smooth by rain and wind.

2. Keeping one’s face turned toward the sun.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick

     while still as on the night before, slouched Ahab stood fixed within his scuttle; his hid, heliotrope glance anticipatingly gone backward on its dial; sat due eastward for the earliest sun.

Derived terms

• (colour): heliotrope cyanosis

Related terms

• (direction): heliotropic

Derived terms

• winter heliotrope

See also

• Appendix:Colors