The Collaborative International Dictionary
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.]
(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.
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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.
To lay away, as clothing, with sprigs of lavender.
To pawn. [Obs.]
Usage examples of "lavender water".
This Lavender Water is so strong that it must be diluted with water before it is used.
Raj Ahten's stablemaster washed the master's horses twice daily in lavender water and parsley, to diminish such offensive odors.
A scent of lavender water emanated from the neat part of the grizzled head bent over my palm.
I smelled a faint flowery scent, as of lavender water, and something more spicy, mingled with the sharper reek of male perspiration.
On the following day, however, he came back to the house shaved and clean, with his mustache perfumed with lavender water and without the bloody sling.
At least the bed as large the covers sweet-smelling since Dame Agnes had had the servants wash them in lavender water after her father's death.
He felt his wife's hair, soft against his face, scented with lavender water.
The guests sat back, sipping mint and lavender water as a quartette of otters performed an acrobatic dance, while a band of mice and moles accompanied them, playing a lively slipjig on reed flutes and drums.
Come, my lady, let these servants bathe you with lavender water if you will not have the oil.