Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
honeysuckle [huhn-ee-suhk-uh l] ExamplesWord Origin noun
- any upright or climbing shrub of the genus Diervilla, especially D. lonicera, cultivated for its fragrant white, yellow, or red tubular flowers.
Origin of honeysuckle 1225–75; Middle English honiesoukel, equivalent to honisouke (Old English hunigsūce; see honey, suck) + -el -le Related formshon·ey·suck·led, adjective Examples from the Web for honeysuckle Historical Examples of honeysuckle
It mistook me for a honeysuckle, and gave me a peck to make sure.
B. M. Bower
There’s a jolly lot of honeysuckle and hazelnuts in these hedges later on.
St. John G. Ervine
I think I know; it has a honeysuckle arch over the gate, hasn’t it?
Mabel Quiller-Couch
He seated them by the railing, along which trailed a honeysuckle vine.
Stephen French Whitman
The odor of the honeysuckle was mingled with the smell of the sea.
Stephen French Whitman
British Dictionary definitions for honeysuckle honeysuckle noun
- any temperate caprifoliaceous shrub or vine of the genus Lonicera: cultivated for their fragrant white, yellow, or pink tubular flowers
- any of several similar plants
- any of various Australian trees or shrubs of the genus Banksia, having flowers in dense spikes: family Proteaceae
Derived Formshoneysuckled, adjectiveWord Origin for honeysuckle Old English hunigsūce, from honey + suck; see suckle Word Origin and History for honeysuckle n.
mid-13c., from Old English hunigsuge, meaning perhaps honeysuckle, clover, or privet, literally “honey-suck,” + diminutive suffix -le. So called because “honey” can be sucked from it. In Middle English sometimes a confused rendering of Latin locusta, taken as the name of a plant.