heliotrope
Syllables: he·li·o·trope/ˈhiː.li.ə.tɹəʊp/US/ˈhi.li.əˌtɹoʊp/
heliotrope noun: a plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.
Noun
heliotrope (countable and uncountable, plural heliotropes)
- A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.
- In the Opale, there be obſerved alſo divers blemiſhes and imperfections as vvell as in other ſtones; namely, if the colour reſemble the floure of that hearbe vvhich is called Heliotropium, id eſt, Turneſole:[…][1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXXVII.] Of the Pretious Stone Opalus, and All the Sundrie Kinds. The Faults in Them and the Means to Trie which be Good. Also Divers...
- Lac[o]. Theſe forked tricks, I vnderſtand 'hem not. / VVould he vvould tell vs vvhome he loues, or hates, / That vve might follovv, vvithout feare, or doubt. / Arr[untius]. Good Heliotrope! Is this your honeſt man? / Let him be yours ſo ſtill. He is my knaue.1603 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, Seianus His Fall, London: […] G[eorge] Elld, for Thomas Thorpe, published 1605, →OCLC, Act IV, signature [I4], verso
- Synonyms:
- heliotropian, turnsole
- A plant of the genus Heliotropium, especially a common heliotrope (Heliotropium arborescens), which has clusters of purple flowers with a strong fragrance.
- As they entered now, it seemed a blaze of roses and carnations, though one recognised in a moment the presence of the lily, the heliotrope, and the stock.1870, B[enjamin] Disraeli, chapter XXIX, in Lothair. […], volume III, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 326
- Here's newyearspray, the posquiflor, a windaborne and heliotrope; there miriamsweet and amaranth and marygold to crown.1939 May 4, James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, London: Faber and Faber Limited, →OCLC; republished London: Faber & Faber Limited, 1960, →OCLC, part III, page 561
- With a qualifying word: any of various plants resembling those of the genus Heliotropium.
- The fragrance of Heliotropium arborescens flowers, or a scent resembling this fragrance.
- He had lost his affable smile, and wore a look of almost military resolution; […] he had always smelt so much more of heliotrope than of gunpowder.1881, Henry James, Jr., chapter XLIII, in The Portrait of a Lady, New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC, page 381
- 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; he hurled it to the floor.1906 April, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “The Furnished Room”, in The Four Million, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co, →OCLC, page 246
- A light purple or violet colour like that of Heliotropium arborescens flowers.
- Kit woke to see looming over him 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, a gift from one of the patients, […]2006, Thomas Pynchon, “Bilocations”, in Against the Day, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 623
- An instrument that uses a mirror to reflect sunlight for purposes such as signalling, or (surveying) triangulation (where the reflected light is detected by another surveyor positioned some distance away).
- An ancient type of sundial consisting of a bowl with a perpendicular gnomon mounted in the centre.
- Synonym of bloodstone (“a green chalcedony that is sprinkled with red spots or veins of hematite”).
- The pretious ſtone Heliotropium, is found in Æthiopia, Affricke, and Cyprus: the ground thereof is a deepe greene in manner of a leeke, but the ſame is garniſhed vvith veins of bloud: the reaſon of the name Heliotropium is this, For that if it be throvvne into a paile of vvater, it chaungeth the...[1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXXVII.] Of Certaine Gems Digested in Order According to the Alphabet.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World....
- Amid this dread exuberance of woe / Ran naked spirits wing'd with horrid fear, / Nor hope had they of crevice where to hide, / Or heliotrope to charm them out of view.1814, Dante Alighieri, “Canto XXIV”, in H[enry] F[rancis] Cary, transl., The Vision; or, Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, of Dante Alighieri. […], volume I (Hell), London: […] [J. Barfield] for Taylor...
- Synonyms:
- bloodstone
Adjective
heliotrope (comparative more heliotrope, superlative most heliotrope)
- Of a light purple or violet colour like that of Heliotropium arborescens flowers.
- "Lady in a heliotrope dress with a lace collar, three flounces on the skirt?" / "That's right, Mr. Bennett," agreed old Goslin. / "It's the Babe himself!" asserted Harry Bennett.1904, Jerome K[lapka] Jerome, “Story the Sixth: ‘The Babe’ Applies for Shares”, in Tommy and Co., 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: Langton and Hall, →OCLC, page 232
- There was a ten-mile stretch of level ground, blown hard as rock, from which the sustenance had been bleached, for not a spear of grass grew there. 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...1917 January, Zane Grey, chapter VI, in Wildfire, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 78
heliotrope meaning in Tamil, Arabic, Persian and Vietnamese
heliotrope in Tamil
- ஒளி சார்ந்த, ஹீலியோட்ரோப், பரிதி நோக்கி, பரிதிநோக்கி
heliotrope in Arabic
- plant of the genus Heliotropium; any of various plants resembling those of the genus Heliotropium
- رَقِيب الشَّمْسِ raqīb aš-šamsi, غُبَيْرَاء ḡubayrāʔ
heliotrope in Persian
- plant of the genus Heliotropium; any of various plants resembling those of the genus Heliotropium
- آفتابپرست âftâb-parast
- Heliotropium arborescens
- روزگردک ruzgardak
heliotrope in Vietnamese
- Heliotropium arborescens
- vòi voi vani
Examples of heliotrope in a sentence
- Cordials. […] Flovvers of Heliotrope, […]a. 1627 (date written), Francis Bacon, “[Baconiana Medica. […].] A Catalogue of Astringents, Openers, and Cordials, Instrumental to Health....
- [S]till 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.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Chase—Second Day”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper &...
- 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.1917 January, Zane Grey, chapter VI, in Wildfire, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 78:
Synonyms of heliotrope
Forms of heliotrope
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | heliotropes |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more heliotrope |
| superlative | most heliotrope |
Origin of heliotrope
PIE word *sóh₂wl̥ The noun is borrowed from French héliotrope, from Latin hēliotropium (“plant which turns to face the sun; bloodstone”), from Ancient Greek ἡλῐοτρόπῐον (hēlĭotrópĭon, “European heliotrope (Heliotropium europaeum); bloodstone; solar clock, sundial”), from ἥλῐος (hḗlĭos, “the sun”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥ (“the sun”)) + τρόπος (trópos, “a turn”) (from τρέπω (trépō, “to rotate; to turn”) (from Proto-Indo-European *trep- (“to turn”)) + -ος (-os, suffix forming nouns from verbs)) + -ῐον (-ĭon, diminutive suffix forming nouns). By surface analysis, helio- + -trope. The French-derived spelling displaced Middle English elitrope, eliotropius, elitropium (“plant which turns to face the sun; bloodstone”) [and other forms], from Old English eliotropus, from Latin hēliotropium (see above); and Old English siġelhweorfa, sōlsece, and sunnfolgend (“heliotrope flower”). Noun sense 6 (“synonym of bloodstone”) is from the fact that a piece of the mineral placed in water is said to change the sun’s rays to a blood-red colour: see the 1601 quotation. The adjective is probably derived from the noun.
Words formed from heliotrope
- heliotrope cyanosis
- blue heliotrope
- clasping heliotrope
- common heliotrope
- European heliotrope
- false heliotrope
- garden heliotrope
- helio
- heliotroper
- heliotropian
- heliotropin
- Indian heliotrope
- summer heliotrope
- winter heliotrope
Questions about heliotrope
- What does heliotrope mean?
- Heliotrope means a plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.
- What is heliotrope in Tamil?
- Heliotrope in Tamil is ஒளி சார்ந்த, ஹீலியோட்ரோப், பரிதி நோக்கி. See Heliotrope meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use heliotrope in a sentence?
- Cordials. […] Flovvers of Heliotrope, […]
- What part of speech is heliotrope?
- Heliotrope can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce heliotrope?
- Heliotrope is pronounced /ˈhiː.li.ə.tɹəʊp/ (UK).
- What is the plural of heliotrope?
- The plural of heliotrope is heliotropes.
Words near heliotrope in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: heliotrope (page history and authors); heliotrope (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-heliotrope.wav.
Cite this entry: “heliotrope.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/heliotrope. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.