Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Violet

Vi′o-let

,
Noun.
[F.
violette
a violet (cf.
violet
violet-colored), dim. of OF.
viole
a violet, L.
viola
; akin to Gr. [GREEK]. Cf.
Iodine
.]
1.
(Bot.)
Any plant or flower of the genus
Viola
, of many species. The violets are generally low, herbaceous plants, and the flowers of many of the species are blue, while others are white or yellow, or of several colors, as the pansy (
Viola tricolor
).
☞ The cultivated sweet violet is
Viola odorata
of Europe. The common blue violet of the eastern United States is
Viola cucullata
; the sand, or bird-foot, violet is
Viola pedata
.
2.
The color of a violet, or that part of the spectrum farthest from red. It is the most refrangible part of the spectrum.
3.
In art, a color produced by a combination of red and blue in equal proportions; a bluish purple color.
Mollett.
4.
(Zool.)
Any one of numerous species of small violet-colored butterflies belonging to
Lycaena
, or
Rusticus
, and allied genera.
Corn violet
.
See under
Corn
.
–
Dame’s violet
.
(Bot.)
See
Damewort
.
–
Dogtooth violet
.
(Bot.)
See under
Dogtooth
.
–
Water violet
(Bot.)
,
an aquatic European herb (
Hottonia palustris
) with pale purplish flowers and pinnatifid leaves.

Vi′o-let

,
Adj.
[Cf. F.
violet
. See
Violet
,
Noun.
]
Dark blue, inclining to red; bluish purple; having a color produced by red and blue combined.
Violet shell
(Zool.)
,
any species of Ianthina; – called also
violet snail
. See
Ianthina
.
–
Violet wood
,
a name given to several kinds of hard purplish or reddish woods, as king wood, myall wood, and the wood of the
Andira violacea
, a tree of Guiana.

Webster 1828 Edition


Violet

VI'OLET

,
Noun.
[L. viola.]
A plant and flower of the genus Viola, of many species.