heliotropes

Noun

heliotrope (countable and uncountable, plural heliotropes)

1. (also, countable, figuratively) 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...

   Synonyms:

   heliotropian, turnsole

   1. (also, figuratively, specifically) 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
   2. (also, figuratively) With a qualifying word: any of various plants resembling those of the genus Heliotropium.
2. (uncountable) 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
3. (uncountable) 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
4. (countable) 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).

   Synonyms:

   sematrope, helio

See all 9 meanings of heliotrope