What is "lavender"

Lavender \Lav"en*der\, n. [OE. lavendre, F. lavande, It. lavanda lavender, a washing, fr. L. lavare to wash; cf. It. lsavendola, LL. lavendula. So called because it was used in bathing and washing. See Lave. to wash, and cf. Lavender.]

1. (Bot.) An aromatic plant of the genus Lavandula ( Lavandula vera), common in the south of Europe. It yields and oil used in medicine and perfumery. The Spike lavender ( Lavandula Spica) yields a coarser oil (oil of spike), used in the arts.

2. The pale, purplish color of lavender flowers, paler and more delicate than lilac. Lavender cotton (Bot.), a low, twiggy, aromatic shrub ( Santolina Cham[ae]cyparissus) of the Mediterranean region, formerly used as a vermifuge, etc., and still used to keep moths from wardrobes. Also called ground cypress. Lavender water, a perfume, toilet water, or shaving lotion containing the essential oil of lavender, and sometimes the essential oil of bergamot, and essence of ambergris. Sea lavender. (Bot.) See Marsh rosemary. To lay in lavender.

   1. To lay away, as clothing, with sprigs of lavender.

   2. To pawn. [Obs.]

"fragrant plant of the mint family," c.1300, from Anglo-French lavendre, Old French lavendre, from Medieval Latin lavendula "lavender" (10c.), perhaps from Latin lividus "bluish, livid." Associated with French lavande, Italian lavanda "a washing" (from Latin lavare "to wash;" see lave) because it was used to scent washed fabrics and as a bath perfume. (An identical Middle English word meant "laundress, washerwoman;" also, apparently, "prostitute, whore; camp follower" and is attested as a surname from early 13c.). The adjective meaning "pale purple color" is from 1840.

a. have a pale purple colour. n. 1 Any of a group of European plants, genus, ''Lavandula'', of the mint family. 2 a pale purple color, like that of the lavender flower.

adj. of a pale purple color [syn: lilac]

n. any of various Old World aromatic shrubs or subshrubs with usually mauve or blue flowers; widely cultivated

Lavender is a pale tint of purple. It applies particularly to the color of the flower of the same name. The web color called lavender is displayed at right—it matches the color of the very palest part of the lavender flower; however, the more saturated color shown below as floral lavender more closely matches the average color of the lavender flower as shown in the picture and is the tone of lavender historically and traditionally considered lavender by the average person as opposed to those who are web site designers. The color lavender might be described as a medium purple or a light pinkish purple. The term lavender may also be used in general to apply to a wide range of pale, light, medium, or grayish purple colors, as well as some pale or light pinkish, magenta, or purple colors as well as some pale or light blueish- indigo colors. In paints, the color lavender is made by mixing purple and white paint.

The first recorded use of the word lavender as a color term in English was in 1705.

Lavender is a biweekly magazine, part of Lavender Media, published in Minneapolis, Minnesota for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community. It is distributed free of charge in the Twin Cites of Minneapolis and St. Paul and in some other cities throughout Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

Founded in 1995 by George Holdgrafer and Stephen Rocheford, Lavender's mission is "to appeal to the greatest number of Minnesota GLBT readers, and direct them to [their] advertisers." Lavender published its 500th issue in June 2014.

Lavender is a Taiwanese TV serial drama which was broadcast in 2002. It was the first collaboration between Tammy Chen and Ambrose Hsu; years later, they starred again in another drama, Lao Shu Ai Da Mi, with their Lavender co-star, Wang Jian Long.

Lavender is a genus of flowering plants, especially the species Lavandula angustifolia.

Lavender may also refer to:

Lavender or self-blue refers to a plumage color pattern in the chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) characterized by a uniform, pale bluish grey color across all feathers. The distinctive color is caused by the action of an autosomal recessive gene, commonly designated as "lav", which reduces the expression of eumelanin and phaeomelanin so that black areas of the plumage appear pale grey instead, and red areas appear a pale buff.

Lavender is a 2015 Malayalam romantic action drama film wriiten by Anoop Menon and directed by Altas T. Ali, starring Rahman, Nishan, Anoop Menon, Govind Padmasoorya, Aju Varghese and Thalaivasal Vijay in the lead roles. Iranian theater artiste Elham Mirza debut as the heroine in the film. The film is shot mostly in Thailand. The film was released on 26 June 2015.

"Lavender" is a song by the British neo-progressive rock band Marillion. It was released as the second single from their 1985 UK number one concept album Misplaced Childhood. The follow-up to the UK number two hit " Kayleigh", the song was their second Top Five UK hit, entering the chart on 7th September 1985, reaching number five and staying on the chart for nine weeks. None of the group's subsequent songs have reached the Top Five and "Lavender" remains their second highest-charting song. As with all Marillion albums and singles between 1982 and 1988, the cover art was created by Mark Wilkinson.

Lavender is an album by Machiko Yamane and Paul Christopher Musgrave. It contains 12 original compositions for piano and string orchestra, and was recorded with members of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the CBC Radio Orchestra.

Lavender is a 2000 Hong Kong romantic film written and directed by Riley Yip Kam-Hung. The film stars Taiwanese actor singer Takeshi Kaneshiro, Hong Kong actress singer Kelly Chen and actor singer Eason Chan. The title of the film is derived from Kelly Chen's character Athena's deceased boyfriend favorite scent, which was lavender. The film is the third collaboration between Kaneshiro and Chen, the two previously co-starred together in 1996 " Lost and Found" and 1998 " Anna Magdalena".

Lavender is a 2016 American drama film directed by Ed Gass-Donnelly and written by Colin Frizzell and Ed Gass-Donnelly. The film stars Abbie Cornish, Dermot Mulroney, Justin Long, Diego Klattenhoff, Peyton Kennedy and Lola Flanery.