verdure

verdure

English

Etymology

From Middle English verdure, from Old French verdure.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈvɜːd͡ʒə/, /ˈvɜːdjə/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈvɝd͡ʒɚ/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)dʒə(ɹ)
• Homophone: verger (one pronunciation)
• Hyphenation: ver‧dure

Noun

verdure (countable and uncountable, plural verdures)

1. The greenness of lush or growing vegetation; also: the vegetation itself.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     […] now he was / The ivy which had hid my princely trunk, / And suck'd my verdure out on't.

   • 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], Pride and Prejudice, volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton […], OCLC 38659585:

     The five weeks which she had now passed in Kent had made a great difference in the country, and every day was adding to the verdure of the early trees.

   • 1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 1, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, OCLC 6868219:

     To her belonged Amber Spring, the water which gave verdure and beauty to the village and made living possible on that wild purple upland waste.

   • 1952, Norman Lewis, Golden Earth:

     Through the brazen hours that followed high noon, we crept onwards through a tunnel of glittering verdure.

2. (by extension) A condition of health and vigour.

Related terms

• verdant
• verdurous

Translations

greenness, vegetation

Belarusian: зе́лень f (zjéljenʹ), зеляні́на f (zjeljanína) Bulgarian: зеленина́ (bg) f (zeleniná) Chinese: Mandarin: 青蔥／青葱 (zh) (qīngcōng), 蒼翠／苍翠 (zh) (cāngcuì) Finnish: vehreys (fi), rehevyys (fi), vihreys (fi) French: verdure (fr) f Galician: verdura (gl) f, verdor m Georgian: სიმწვანე (simc̣vane), მცენარეულობა (mcenareuloba), ფოთლეულობა (potleuloba) German: Grün (de) n, Wuchs (de) m, Pflanzenwuchs (de) m Portuguese: verdor (pt) m, vegetação (pt) f Russian: зе́лень (ru) f (zélenʹ) Spanish: verdor (es) m, vegetación (es) f, verdura (es) f Swedish: grönska (sv) c Ukrainian: зе́лень f (zélenʹ) Vietnamese: thảm thực vật Welsh: gwyrddni m

condition of health and vigour

Bulgarian: све́жест (bg) f (svéžest) Chinese: Mandarin: 勃勃生机 (bóbóshēngjī), 万物竞发 (wànwùjìngfā) Finnish: elinvoima (fi), kukoistus (fi), kukkeus (fi) French: vigueur (fr) f German: Kraft (de) f Portuguese: verdor (pt) m Russian: све́жесть (ru) f (svéžestʹ) Swedish: friskhet (sv) c Welsh: hoen f

Verb

verdure (third-person singular simple present verdures, present participle verduring, simple past and past participle verdured)

1. (transitive) To cover with verdure.

Derived terms

• reverdure

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Dutch

Verb

verdure

1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of verduren

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French

Etymology

From vert (“green”) +‎ -ure (noun-forming suffix), or from Vulgar Latin *virdūra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɛʁ.dyʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -yʁ

Noun

verdure f (plural verdures)

1. verdure, greenness

Descendants

• → Romanian: verdură

Further reading

• “verdure”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /verˈdu.re/
• Rhymes: -ure
• Hyphenation: ver‧dù‧re

Noun

verdure f pl

1. plural of verdura