heather
/'heðə/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Noun:
- A low-growing evergreen shrub: Heather is a small, woody plant that keeps its leaves year-round. It is known for its tiny, bell-shaped flowers and needle-like foliage.
- A muted, greyish color with flecks: The word can also refer to a soft, interwoven yarn color or a fabric with this appearance, characterized by subtle mixed shades.
Examples of Usage
- Noun (Plant):
- The Scottish moors were covered in purple heather.
- Bees love to gather nectar from heather in late summer.
- Noun (Color/Fabric):
- She wore a lovely heather-grey sweater.
- The fabric had a heather blend of blue and grey threads.
Advanced Usage
- "To take to the heather": This is an archaic idiom, primarily from Scottish history, meaning to become an outlaw or fugitive, hiding in the wild moorlands.
- The rebel clansman had to take to the heather to escape the king's soldiers.
Variants and Related Words
- Heathery (adj): Resembling heather in color or appearance.
- The landscape had a heathery hue in the autumn light.
- Heath (n): A tract of open, uncultivated land, often where heather grows; also a related plant family.
- The path led across a windswept heath.
Synonyms
- Ling: Another common name for the heather plant ().
- Moorland plant: A descriptive term for flora typical of heath and moor environments.
Related Phrases
- Heather mixture: A term in textiles for yarn or fabric made from differently colored fibers blended together.
- His socks were made from a traditional heather mixture wool.
Noun
- interwoven yarns of mixed colors producing muted greyish shades with flecks of color
- common Old World heath represented by many varieties; low evergreen grown widely in the northern hemisphere