heliotrope

See also: héliotrope

English

Etymology

A heliotrope (Heliotropium arborescens; sense 1.2).

A surveying heliotrope (c. 1878; sense 5) from the B. A. Colonna collection (NOAA).

Borrowed from French héliotrope, from Ancient Greek ἡλιοτρόπιον (hēliotrópion), from ἥλιος (hḗlios, “sun”) + τρέπω (trépō, “turn”). See also Old English sunnfolgend.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhiː.li.ətɹəʊp/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhi.li.əˌtɹoʊp/
Hyphenation: he‧lio‧trope

Noun

heliotrope (countable and uncountable, plural heliotropes)

(botany) A plant that turns so that it faces the sun.
1. Particularly, a purple-flowered plant of the species Heliotropium arborescens.
  - 1870, B[enjamin] Disraeli, chapter XXIX, in Lothair. […], volume III, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., OCLC 1247608154, page 326:
    As they entered now, it seemed a blaze of roses and carnations, though one recognised in a moment the presence of the lily, the heliotrope, and the stock.
A light purple or violet colour.
heliotrope:
- 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, page 623:
  [T]he face of Dr. Willi Dingkopf, framed by a haircut in violation of more than one law of physics, and a vivid necktie in fuchsia, heliotrope, and duck green […]
The fragrance of heliotrope flowers.
- 1908, Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady (The Novels and Tales of Henry James), volume (please specify |volume=I or II), New York edition, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, OCLC 4447781; republished as The Portrait of a Lady (EBook #283), United States: Project Gutenberg, 1 September 2001:
  […] he had always smelt so much more of heliotrope than of gunpowder.
- 1906, O. Henry, The Furnished Room
  Ransacking the drawers of the dresser he came upon a discarded, tiny, ragged handkerchief. He pressed it to his face. It was racy and insolent with heliotrope; [...]
(mineralogy) A bloodstone (a variety of quartz).
(surveying) An instrument, employed in triangulation, that uses a mirror to reflect sunlight toward another, very distant, surveyor.

Synonyms

(Heliotropium arborescens): cherry pie, common heliotrope
(rock): bloodstone

Related terms

(direction): heliotropism

Translations

plant that turns so that it faces the sun

Catalan: heliotropi (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can
Danish: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: heliotrooppi (fi)
Greek: ηλιοτρόπιο (el) n (iliotrópio)
Irish: plúr na gréine m
Portuguese: please add this translation if you can

Heliotropium arborescens

Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can
Danish: please add this translation if you can
Estonian: harilik heliotroop
Finnish: tuoksuheliotrooppi
German: Heliotrop m, Vanilleblume f, Sonnenwende (de) f
Greek: ηλιοτρόπιο (el) n (iliotrópio)
Ancient: ἡλιοτρόπιον n (hēliotrópion)
Japanese: ヘリオトロープ (heriotorōpu)
Latin: solago f
Persian: روزگردک‎ (ruzgardak)
Portuguese: please add this translation if you can
Russian: гелиотро́п (ru) m (geliotróp)
Serbo-Croatian: sunčac (sh) m

colour

Bulgarian: светловиолетов (svetlovioletov)
Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can
Danish: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: sinivioletti
German: Blauviolett n, Heliotrop n (uncommonly)
Japanese: 薄紫 (うすむらさき, usumurasaki)
Portuguese: púrpura-rosado f
Russian: please add this translation if you can

rock — see bloodstone

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Arabic: ^{(please verify)} حَجْر اَلدَّمَ‎ f (ḥajr ad-dama)
Ido: ^{(please verify)} heliotropo (io)
Japanese: ヘリオトロープ (heriotorōbu), キダチルリソウ (kidachirisō), ニオイムラサキ (nioimurasaki)
Latin: ^{(please verify)} heliotropium n
Malay: ^{(please verify)} heliotrop
Portuguese: ^{(please verify)} heliotrópio (pt) m
Romanian: ^{(please verify)} heliotrop (ro) m
Spanish: ^{(please verify)} heliotropo m
Volapük: ^{(please verify)} heliotrop

Adjective

heliotrope (comparative more heliotrope, superlative most heliotrope)

Light purple or violet.
- 1904, Jerome K. Jerome, Tommy and Co.
  Lady in a heliotrope dress with a lace collar, three flounces on the skirt?
- 1917, Zane Grey, Wildfire
  And following that was a tortuous passage through a weird region of clay dunes, blue and violet and heliotrope and lavender, all worn smooth by rain and wind.
Keeping one’s face turned toward the sun.
- 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, OCLC 57395299:
  while still as on the night before, slouched Ahab stood fixed within his scuttle; his hid, heliotrope glance anticipatingly gone backward on its dial; sat due eastward for the earliest sun.

Derived terms

(colour): heliotrope cyanosis

Derived terms

winter heliotrope

Related terms

(direction): heliotropic