CINQUEFOIL • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Cinquefoil

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noun

Cinquefoil n.

(Bot.) The name of several different species of the genus Potentilla; also called five-finger, because of the resemblance of its leaves to the fingers of the hand.

(Arch.) An ornamental foliation having five points or cups, used in windows, panels, etc.

Marsh cinquefoil, the Potentilla palustris, a plant with purple flowers which grows in fresh-water marshes.

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Etymology of 'Cinquefoil'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Cinquefoil" Quotes from Famous Books

... its pages to recall the identity of the editor; but in one place he quotes as follows from Lord Bacon: "The ointment which witches use is made of the fat of children digged from their graves, and of the juices of smallage, cinquefoil, and wolf's-bane, mingled with the meal of fine wheat," and hopes that none of his readers will try to compound it. In the tale of "Young Goodman Brown," when Goody Cloyse says, "I was all anointed with the juice of small-age and cinquefoil ...

— A Study Of Hawthorne • George Parsons Lathrop

Words linked to "Cinquefoil" : goose-tansy, bush, silverweed, Potentilla anserina, Potentilla, carving, goose grass, five-finger, shrub