columbine

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɒləmbʌɪn/

From the Latin colombina herba (“dove-like plant”), the flower being likened to five clustered pigeons.

columbine (plural columbines)

1. Any plant of the genus Aquilegia, having distinctive bell-shaped flowers with spurs on each petal.

Borrowed from Old French columbin (French colombin), from Latin columbinus, from columba (“dove, pigeon”).

columbine (comparative more columbine, superlative most columbine)

1. (archaic) Pertaining to a dove or pigeon.
   • late 1500s, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Merchant's Tale:

     Com forþ now, wiþ þyne eyen columbyn! / How fairer been þy brestes þan is wyn!

   • Francis Bacon

     It is not possible to join serpentine wisdom with the columbine innocency, except men know exactly all the conditions of the serpent.