| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| amaryllis |
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| SYLLABICATION: | am·a·ryl·lis |
| PRONUNCIATION: |   m  -r l s |
| NOUN: | 1. Any of several chiefly tropical American bulbous plants of the genus Hippeastrum grown as ornamentals for their large, showy, funnel-shaped, variously colored flowers that are grouped in umbels. 2. See belladonna lily. 3. Any of several similar or related plants. 4. Amaryllis Used in classical pastoral poetry as a conventional name for a shepherdess. | | ETYMOLOGY: | New Latin Amaryllis, genus name, from Latin, name of a shepherdess, from Greek Amarullis.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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