Definition

Noun: 1. A common name for the dandelion (genus Taraxacum): Specifically, it refers to the mature, spherical seed head of the dandelion plant, which is a fluffy ball of seeds that can be dispersed by the wind. 2. The fluffy seed head itself: The white, globe-shaped structure formed from many single-seeded fruits attached to feathery hairs, characteristic of the dandelion.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:
  • The children picked the blowball and blew on it, sending the seeds flying.
  • A field covered in yellow dandelions will soon be a field of white blowballs.
  • The blowball is a highly effective mechanism for seed dispersal.

Advanced Usage

• The term blowball is primarily used in a botanical or descriptive context and is less common in everyday speech than "dandelion clock" or simply "dandelion seed head." It poetically describes the stage of the plant ready for its seeds to be "blown" away.

Variants and Related Words

• Dandelion (n): The more common name for the entire plant (), including its leaves, stem, flower, and seed head.
• Dandelion clock (n): A chiefly British term for the blowball, especially when used by children to "tell the time" by blowing the seeds off.
• Pappus (n): The botanical term for the modified calyx, forming the feathery hairs that aid in wind dispersal, which collectively create the blowball structure.

Synonyms

• Dandelion seed head
• Dandelion clock (chiefly British)
• Seed ball (general term)

Related Idioms

• To tell the time by a dandelion clock: A playful activity, especially among children, where one blows on a blowball; the number of puffs required to remove all the seeds is said to indicate the current hour.

Noun

1. any of several herbs of the genus Taraxacum having long tap roots and deeply notched leaves and bright yellow flowers followed by fluffy seed balls