MALTESE CROSS • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Maltese cross

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noun

maltese cross n. (Bot.)

A Eurasian garden perennial (Lychins chalcedonica) having scarlet flowers in dense terminal heads.

Synonyms: scarlet lychnis, Lychins chalcedonica.

A cross with triangular or arrow-shaped arms and the points toward the center. See illustration under cross.

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Etymology of 'Maltese cross'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Maltese cross" Quotes from Famous Books

... Avenue school last Christmas that I offered the truant class a four-bladed penknife as a prize for whittling out the truest Maltese cross. It was a class of black sheep, and it was the blackest sheep of the flock that won the prize. "That awful Savarese," said the principal in despair. I thought of Fighting Mary, and bade her take heart. I regret to say that within a week the hapless Savarese was black-listed ...

— Children of the Tenements • Jacob A. Riis

... have used their coats of arms as appropriate decorations for their postal issues. On the five shilling stamps of Malta we find the Maltese cross, emblem of the Knights of St. John ...

— What Philately Teaches • John N. Luff

... no other beard; the lines of his mouth were not severe, and his eye was soft and gentle. But what made the portrait particularly noticeable was the broad red ribbon of a noble order crossing the breast, and a Maltese cross suspended from the neck by a short chain of massive and curiously wrought links. I had many times been on the point of asking the name of this singularly handsome and distinguished-looking personage; but an instinctive feeling of ...

— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 2, Issue 11, September, 1858 • Various

... search revealed some other things. One was a small stick, the point of which was reddened with a substance which microscopic examination afterward showed to be blood. The other was a scarf-pin made of gold, the head of which consisted of a Maltese cross, of very rich and elegant design. In the middle was black enamel inclosed by a richly chased gold border, and at the intersection of the bars was a small diamond of great splendor. If this cross belonged to the murderer it had doubtless become loosened, and fallen out while he was stooping ...

— The Living Link • James De Mille

Words linked to "Maltese cross" : catchfly, scarlet lychnis