thistle

noun

1. any of various prickly, composite plants having showy, purple flower heads, especially of the genera Cirsium, Carduus, or Onopordum.
2. any of various other prickly plants.

noun

1. any of numerous plants of the genera Cirsium, Carduus, and related genera, having prickly-edged leaves, pink, purple, yellow, or white dense flower heads, and feathery hairs on the seeds: family Asteraceae (composites)
2. a thistle, or a representation of one, as the national emblem of Scotland

noun the Thistle

1. See Order of the Thistle
2. (sometimes not capital)
   1. the emblem of this Order
   2. membership of this Order

n.prickly herbaceous plant, Old English þistel, from Proto-Germanic *thikhstula (cf. Old High German distil, German Distel, Old Norse þistell, Danish tidsel), of unknown origin. Emblem of Scotland since 15c.