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Webster 1913 Edition

Myrtle

Myr′tle

(mẽr′t’l)
,
Noun.
[F.
myrtil
bilberry, prop., a little myrtle, from
myrte
myrtle, L.
myrtus
,
murtus
, Gr.
μύρτος
; cf. Per.
mūrd
.]
(Bot.)
A species of the genus
Myrtus
, especially
Myrtus communis
. The common myrtle has a shrubby, upright stem, eight or ten feet high. Its branches form a close, full head, thickly covered with ovate or lanceolate evergreen leaves. It has solitary axillary white or rosy flowers, followed by black several-seeded berries. The ancients considered it sacred to Venus. The flowers, leaves, and berries are used variously in perfumery and as a condiment, and the beautifully mottled wood is used in turning.
☞ The name is also popularly but wrongly applied in America to two creeping plants, the blue-flowered periwinkle and the yellow-flowered moneywort. In the West Indies several myrtaceous shrubs are called
myrtle
.
Bog myrtle
,
the sweet gale.
–
Crape myrtle
.
See under
Crape
.
–
Myrtle warbler
(Zool.)
,
a North American wood warbler (
Dendroica coronata
); – called also
myrtle bird
,
yellow-rumped warbler
, and
yellow-crowned warbler
.
–
Myrtle wax
.
(Bot.)
See
Bayberry tallow
, under
Bayberry
.
–
Sand myrtle
,
a low, branching evergreen shrub (
Leiophyllum buxifolium
), growing in New Jersey and southward.
–
Wax myrtle
(
Myrica cerifera
). See
Bayberry
.

Webster 1828 Edition

Myrtle

MYR'TLE

,
Noun.
[L. myrtus.] A plant of the genus Myrtus, of several species. The common myrtle rises with a shrubby upright stem, eight or ten feet high. Its branches form a close full head, closely garnished with oval lanceolate leaves. It has numerous small, pale flowers from the axillas, singly on each footstalk.

Definition 2024

Myrtle

Myrtle

See also: myrtle

English

Proper noun

Myrtle

  1. A female given name.
    • 1867 Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr: The Guardian Angel: Chapter XXXIV:
      Myrtle Hazard Lindsay walked up to the bust, and kissed its marble forehead, saying, "This is the face of my Guardian Angel!"
    • 1993 Carol Shields: The Stone Diaries: page 318:
      "My husband used to say that girls with flower names fade fast." It was Myrtle who said this one day, out of the blue, and for some reason it made them all go weak with laughter.

See also

  • Myrtilla

Anagrams

myrtle

myrtle

See also: Myrtle

English

Wikispecies

Noun

myrtle ‎(plural myrtles)

  1. An evergreen shrub or small tree of the genus Myrtus, native to southern Europe and north Africa.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

Etymology

After the plant, myrtle, used since the end of the 19th century.

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