Crossword clues for nosegay
nosegay
The Collaborative International Dictionary
nosegay \nose"gay`\, n. [Nose + gay in the sense of a gay or
showy thing.]
A bunch of odorous and showy flowers; a bouquet; a posy.
--Pope.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
n. A small bunch of fragrant flowers or herbs, tied in a bundle, often presented as a gift on meeting, and originally intended to be put to the nose for the pleasant sensation, or to mask unpleasant odours.
WordNet
Wikipedia
A nosegay, tussie-mussie, or posy is a small flower bouquet, typically given as a gift. They have existed in some form since at least medieval times, when they were carried or worn around the head or bodice. Doilies are traditionally used to bind the stems in these arrangements. Alternatively, "posy holders," available in a variety of shapes and materials (although often silver), enable the wearing of these arrangements "at the waist, in the hair, or secured with a brooch."
The term nosegay arose in fifteenth-century Middle English as a combination of nose and gay (the latter then meaning "ornament"). So a nosegay was an ornament that appeals to the nose or nostril.
The term tussie-mussie comes from the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), when the small bouquets became a popular fashion accessory. Typically, tussie-mussies include floral symbolism from the language of flowers, and therefore may be used to send a message to the recipient.
Image:Cookies bouquet.jpg|A bouquet of roses Image:Artificial flowers bouquet oldfashioned.jpg|A plastic posy Image:Autoschmuck eines Hochzeitautos - gross.jpg|A wedding tussie-mussie Image:Flowerbouquet009.JPG|A bouquet arrangement against a blue sky
Usage examples of "nosegay".
They had carried nosegays of flowers and drunk powdered emeralds and applied leeches to the buboes, but all of those were worse than useless, and Dr.
A felicity which would thus last throughout life could be compared to a nosegay formed of a thousand flowers so beautifully, so skillfully blended together, that it would look one single flower.
I was taking a walk in the Tuileries, not thinking any more of my female extortioner, when a small man, with his hat cocked on one side of his head and a large nosegay in his button-hole, and sporting a long sword, swaggered up to me and informed me, without any further explanation, that he had a fancy to cut my throat.
Since this site was almost three kilometers closer to the piles, we had to double our dosage of nosegays to cope with the big stink.
A BALLAD OF PAST MERIDIAN I Last night returning from my twilight walk I met the grey mist Death, whose eyeless brow Was bent on me, and from his hand of chalk He reached me flowers as from a withered bough: O Death, what bitter nosegays givest thou!
I was taking a walk in the Tuileries, not thinking any more of my female extortioner, when a small man, with his hat cocked on one side of his head and a large nosegay in his button-hole, and sporting a long sword, swaggered up to me and informed me, without any further explanation, that he had a fancy to cut my throat.
From every street and every corner drove carriages filled with clowns, harlequins, dominoes, mummers, pantomimists, Transteverins, knights, and peasants, screaming, fighting, gesticulating, throwing eggs filled with flour, confetti, nosegays, attacking, with their sarcasms and their missiles, friends and foes, companions and strangers, indiscriminately, and no one took offence, or did anything but laugh.
Nosegays and pomanders of purifying herbs said to fend off the foul humors that caused the plague were worn by folk of every class.
It was a human storm, made up of a thunder of cries, and a hail of sweetmeats, flowers, eggs, oranges, and nosegays.
She set a small nosegay on the tray, a confection of stark black twigs with white ribbon stitched into tiny buds on them.
A felicity which would thus last throughout life could be compared to a nosegay formed of a thousand flowers so beautifully, so skillfully blended together, that it would look one single flower.
Her throat was bare, and in her bosom she had a beautiful nosegay of tulips, roses, anemones, ranunculuses, hyacinths and auriculas.
Tonight the extra dose of nosegays made the big stink smell like the fruitcake cookies Aunt Lindsay makes for Bastille Day.
There were violets and rosebuds edged with lace paper, lovely red roses tied with satin bows, daisies and daffodils, pinks and larkspur, and every other sort of delightful nosegay you could ever imagine.
One does not follow a pair of lovers to that extent, and one is accustomed to turn one's back on the drama as soon as it puts a wedding nosegay in its buttonhole.