garland

/ˈɡɑː.lənd/US/ˈɡɑɹ.lənd/

garland noun: a circular or linear decoration, especially one of plaited flowers or leaves, worn on the body or draped as a decoration.

Image: Thamizhpparithi Maari, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

garland (plural garlands)

A circular or linear decoration, especially one of plaited flowers or leaves, worn on the body or draped as a decoration.
- Bestow a Garland only on a Bier1717, Alexander Pope, The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], →OCLC
- Both brides and grooms in native Hawaiian tradition wear flower garlands as a physical manifestation of their love for one another, and to some, the twining of the stems is reflective of two families now becoming one. A more tourist-friendly version established in the past couple of decades...2013 August 30, Kat Kinsman, “Something borrowed: Wedding traditions from around the world”, in CNN
An accolade or mark of honour.
A metal gutter placed round a mineshaft on the inside, to catch water running down inside the shaft and run it into a drainpipe.
The crown of a monarch.
- [She] ioyfully receyued and welcommed mee, as the onely type and garland of her noble ſtirpe and linage, […]1569, Richard Grafton, “Henry the Seuenth”, in A Chronicle at Large and Meere History of the Affayres of Englande […], volume II, London: […] Henry Denham, […], for Richarde Tottle and Humffrey Toye...
(dated) A book of extracts in prose or poetry; an anthology.
- They [ballads] began to be collected into little miscellanies under the name of garlands.1765, Thomas Percy, Reliques of Ancient English Poetry
The top; the thing most prized.
- And call him noble that was now your hate, / Him vile that was your garland.c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
A sort of netted bag used by sailors to keep provisions in.
A grommet or ring of rope lashed to a spar for convenience in handling.

Verb

garland (third-person singular simple present garlands, present participle garlanding, simple past and past participle garlanded)

(transitive) To deck or ornament something with a garland.
- Anand disembarks like a statesman from the Volkswagen to be garlanded immediately by five different women.2008, Preeta Samarasan, Evening is the Whole Day, Fourth Estate, page 206
(transitive) To form something into a garland.

Proper noun capitalized: Garland

Garland (countable and uncountable, plural Garlands)

A surname originating as an occupation for a maker or seller of garlands.
- U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) led Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to send a letter to President Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier...2022 July 6, “Senators Warren, Sanders, Markey, and Gillibrand Urge Administration to Deschedule Cannabis and Pardon Nonviolent Cannabis Offenders”, in warren.senate.gov, archived from the original...
(countable) A male given name transferred from the surname.
A town in Miller County, Arkansas.
An unincorporated community in Bourbon County, Kansas.
A town in Penobscot County, Maine.
An unincorporated community in Henry County, Missouri.
A village in Seward County, Nebraska.
A town in Sampson County, North Carolina.
An unincorporated community in Miami County, Ohio.
A city mostly in Dallas County, Texas.
A city in Box Elder County, Utah.
A census-designated place in Park County, Wyoming.
A locality in the Blayney council area, central eastern New South Wales, Australia.

garland meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

garland in Marathi

wreath of flowers: माळ māḷ, हार hār

garland in Urdu

wreath of flowers: مالا mālā

More languagesFewer languages

garland in Telugu: మాల māla
garland in Malayalam: ഹാരം hāraṁ, മാല māla
garland in Kannada: ಹಾರ, ಮಾಲೆ, ಸರ, ಹೂವಿನ ಹಾರ
garland in Gujarati: માલા mālā, હાર hār
garland in Odia: ଝଣ୍ଡା jhaṇḍā
garland in Sanskrit: माला mālā
garland in Nepali: माला mālā
garland in Pashto: همېل hamel
garland in Tagalog: girlanda
garland in Persian: بساک basâk
garland in Thai: มาลัย, พวงมาลัย puuang-maa-lai

Examples of garland in a sentence

A string of sooshki hangs around her neck like an Olympic garland.
Once a year, the local department store would festoon the window displays with twinkly lights and fake garland.
Garlands don’t come cheap, yet if you’ve been before, you’ll know that garlands fly off the rack very quickly.

All 29 example sentences with garland

Forms of garland

Noun
plural	garlands
Verb
third-person singular present	garlands
present participle	garlanding
past participle	garlanded
past	garlanded
Proper noun
plural	Garlands

Plural of garland: garlands

Origin of garland

From Middle English garland, garlaunde, gerland, from Old French garlande, garlaunde, gerlande, guerlande (compare French guirlande), from Frankish *wierlōn, *wieralōn, a frequentative form of Frankish *wierōn (“to adorn, bedeck”), from *wiera (“a gold thread”), from or related to Proto-Germanic *wīraz. Akin to Old High German wieren (“to adorn”), Old High German wiara (“gold thread”). More at wire.

English surname, from the noun garland. Also derived from Garland in Devon, from an ancestor of the noun gore (“triangular piece of land”) + land.

Words formed from garland

Phrases with garland

Questions about garland

What does garland mean?: Garland means a circular or linear decoration, especially one of plaited flowers or leaves, worn on the body or draped as a decoration.
What is garland in Hindi?: Garland in Hindi is माला (mālā). See Garland meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is garland?: Garland can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce garland?: Garland is pronounced /ˈɡɑː.lənd/ (UK).
What is the plural of garland?: The plural of garland is garlands.

Words near garland in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-garland.wav.

Cite this entry: “garland.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/garland. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.