Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Lilac

Li′lac (lī′lak), n. [Also lilach.] [Sp. lilac, lila, Ar. līlak, fr. Per. līlaj, līlanj, līlang, nīlaj, nīl, the indigo plant, or from the kindred līlak bluish, the flowers being named from the color. Cf. Anil.] 1. (Bot.) A shrub of the genus Syringa. There are six species, natives of Europe and Asia. Syringa vulgaris, the common lilac, and S. Persica, the Persian lilac, are frequently cultivated for the fragrance and beauty of their purplish or white flowers. In the British colonies various other shrubs have this name.

2. A light purplish color like that of the flower of the purplish lilac.

California lilac (Bot.), a low shrub with dense clusters of purplish flowers (Ceanothus thyrsiflorus).

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.