zephyr lily, n.

zephyr-lily
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zephyr-lily_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 2018

# zephyr lilynoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zephyr lily mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zephyr lily. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the noun zephyr lily?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1870 | 0.00004
1880 | 0.00009
1890 | 0.00008
1900 | 0.0002
1910 | 0.0002
1920 | 0.0004
1930 | 0.0005
1940 | 0.0006
1950 | 0.0006
1960 | 0.0007
1970 | 0.0007
1980 | 0.0008
1990 | 0.0008
2000 | 0.0008
2010 | 0.0008

### Where does the noun zephyr lily come from?

Earliest known use

1870s

The earliest known use of the noun zephyr lily is in the 1870s.

OED's earliest evidence for zephyr lily is from around 1877, in the writing of D. T. Fish.

### Nearby entries

1. zephyranthes, n. 1821–
2. zephyrean, adj. 1793–
3. zephyret, n. 1777–1881
4. zephyr flower, n.?1829–
5. zephyr-gale, n. 1596–1901
6. zephyrian, adj. 1661–
7. zephyrine, adj. & n. 1819–
8. zephyring, adj. 1821–
9. zephyrless, adj. a1821–
10. zephyr-like, adv. & adj. 1765–
11. zephyr lily, n.?1877–
12. zephyrous, adj. a1750–
13. zephyry, adj. 1791–
14. Zepp, n. 1914–
15. Zepp, v. 1914–
16. Zeppelin, n. 1896–
17. zeppelin, v. 1910–
18. Zeppelined, adj. 1915–
19. Zeppelining, n. 1915–
20. Zeppelinist, n. 1912–
21. Zeppelinistic, adj. 1930–

## Meaning & use

1. ?1877–
   Any of various plants of the genus Zephyranthes (family Amaryllidaceae), native to tropical and subtropical America and widely cultivated as garden plants, typically having grass-like leaves and pink, white, or yellow solitary flowers; a zephyranth.
   1. ?1877

      > Unless for the purpose of propagation it is not wise to disturb these zephyr lilies too often.

      D. T. Fish, Bulbs & Bulb Culture 443
   2. 1988

      > Other spring flowers that respond to moisture are the pale pink zephyr lilies that are also called rain lilies.

      St. Petersburg (Florida) Times (Nexis) 28 October d1
   3. 2008

      > Zephyr lily (Zephyranthes species).

      D. G. Barceloux, Med. Toxicol. Nat. Substances cxii. 716 (heading)
   plants
   1. maguey 1555–
      Any of several giant, fleshy-leaved agaves of Mexico and the south-western United States; esp. the American aloe, Agave americana. Frequently attrib…
   2. melt 1605–23
      The maguey or American aloe, Agave americana.
   3. pancratium 1664–
      Botany. Any of various bulbous African, Mediterranean, and South Asian plants of the genus Pancratium (family Amaryllidaceae), bearing umbels of…
   4. aloe 1665–
      Frequently with distinguishing word. Any of various other plants supposed to resemble those of the genus Aloe; esp. (more fully American aloe) a…
   5. pita 1698–
      Any of these fibre-yielding plants.
   6. mescal 1709–
      Any of various plants of the genus Agave, of Mexico and the south-western United States; esp. any of several large agaves with paniculate…
   7. maypole 1750–
      Caribbean (chiefly Barbados). Any of various kinds of century plant (genus Agave), which are remarkable for their very long, pole-shaped…
   8. agave 1760–
      Any of numerous plants constituting the genus Agave (family Agavaceae), comprising perennial succulents native chiefly to the southern United…
   9. poison bulb 1776–
      A South African bulbous plant, Boophane disticha (family Amaryllidaceae), the source of an arrow poison.
   10. kukumakranka 1793–
       A small, bulbous, perennial plant of the genus Gethyllis, belonging to the family Amaryllidaceæ, and bearing fragrant white flowers and an…
   11. fire lily 1802–
       a. Any of various lilies with orange or red flowers, esp. Lilium bulbiferum of southern Europe, which has bright orange flowers; b. any of the…
   12. furcraea 1821–
       A tropical American plant of the genus so named, closely related to Agave and belonging to the family Amaryllidaceæ.
   13. zephyranthes 1821–
       Any of various bulbous plants of the genus Zephyranthes (family Amaryllidaceae), native to the warmer regions of the Americas and widely cultivated…
   14. century plant 1827–
       An agave (some of which mature very slowly and take a number of years to come into flower); esp. Agave americana.
   15. zephyr lily?1877–
       Any of various plants of the genus Zephyranthes (family Amaryllidaceae), native to tropical and subtropical America and widely cultivated as…
   16. mescal button 1887–
       The button-like top of the cactus Lophophora williamsii, dried and usually eaten or chewed for its hallucinogenic effects; (also) the cactus itself…
   17. tequila plant 1896–
       An agave or maguey, the sap of which is used to make tequila; spec. the blue agave, Agave tequilana.
   18. drumstick allium 1976–
       A cultivated herbaceous perennial, Allium sphaerocephalon (family Amaryllidaceae), with a straight, tall stem bearing a large head of purple flowers.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

zephyr lily typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zephyr lily is in frequency band 1, which contains words occurring fewer than 0.001 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands

Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zephyr lily, n., 1870–2010

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.

The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.

For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.

Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.

Decade | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
1870 | 0.00004
1880 | 0.00009
1890 | 0.00008
1900 | 0.0002
1910 | 0.0002
1920 | 0.0004
1930 | 0.0005
1940 | 0.0006
1950 | 0.0006
1960 | 0.0007
1970 | 0.0007
1980 | 0.0008
1990 | 0.0008
2000 | 0.0008
2010 | 0.0008

Originally published as part of the entry for zephyr, n.

zephyr lily, n. was first published in 2018.