myrtle

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Related to myrtles: wax myrtles, crepe myrtles

myr·tle

 (mûr′tl)
n.
1. Any of several evergreen shrubs or trees of the genus Myrtus, especially M. communis, an aromatic shrub native to the Mediterranean region, having white flowers and blue-black berries and widely cultivated as a hedge plant.
2. Any of several other evergreen shrubs or trees, such as the wax myrtle.
3. The periwinkle Vinca minor.

[Middle English mirtille, from Old French, from Medieval Latin myrtillus, diminutive of Latin myrtus, from Greek murtos.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

myrtle

(ˈmɜːtəl)
n
1. (Plants) any evergreen shrub or tree of the myrtaceous genus Myrtus, esp M. communis, a S European shrub with pink or white flowers and aromatic blue-black berries
2. (Plants) short for crape myrtle
3. (Plants) bog myrtle. another name for sweet gale
4. (Plants) creeping myrtle trailing myrtle US and Canadian another name for periwinkle21
[C16: from Medieval Latin myrtilla, from Latin myrtus, from Greek murtos]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

myr•tle

(ˈmɜr tl)

n.
1. any plant of the genus Myrtus, esp. M. communis of S Europe, having evergreen leaves, fragrant white flowers, and aromatic berries.
2. any of certain unrelated plants, as the periwinkle, Vinca minor, and California laurel, Umbellularia californica.
3. Also called myr′tle green′. dark bluish green.
[1350–1400; < Medieval Latin myrtillus= Latin myrt(us) (< Greek mýrtos) + New Latin -illus diminutive suffix]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.myrtle - widely cultivated as a groundcover for its dark green shiny leaves and usually blue-violet flowersmyrtle - widely cultivated as a groundcover for its dark green shiny leaves and usually blue-violet flowers
periwinkle - chiefly trailing poisonous plants with blue flowers
2.myrtle - any evergreen shrub or tree of the genus Myrtus
common myrtle, Myrtus communis - European shrub with white or rosy flowers followed by black berries
angiospermous tree, flowering tree - any tree having seeds and ovules contained in the ovary
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations

myrtle

[ˈmɜːtl] Narrayán m, mirto m
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

myrtle

nMyrte f
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

myrtle

[ˈmɜːtl] nmirto
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
References in classic literature ?
My tantalized spirit Here blandly reposes, Forgetting, or never Regretting its roses -- Its old agitations Of myrtles and roses:
Add to this her short nose, her plump cheeks that set wrinkles at defiance, her white hair dressed in stiff little curls; and, if a doll could grow old, Lady Lydiard, at sixty, would have been the living image of that doll, taking life easily on its journey downwards to the prettiest of tombs, in a burial-ground where the myrtles and roses grew all the year round.
Then Dantes rose more agile and light than the kid among the myrtles and shrubs of these wild rocks, took his gun in one hand, his pickaxe in the other, and hastened towards the rock on which the marks he had noted terminated.
For December, and January, and the latter part of November, you must take such things as are green all winter: holly; ivy; bays; juniper; cypress-trees; yew; pine-apple-trees; fir-trees; rosemary; lavender; periwinkle, the white, the purple, and the blue; germander; flags; orangetrees; lemon-trees; and myrtles, if they be stoved; and sweet marjoram, warm set.
Then, while his eye was wandering over the plain, turning on all sides, he saw a white form appear behind the scented myrtles. This figure was clothed in the costume of an officer; it held in its hand a broken sword; it advanced slowly towards Athos, who, stopping short and fixing his eyes upon it, neither spoke nor moved, but wished to open his arms, because in this silent officer he had already recognized Raoul.
The girl was quite as tall as her aunt Pelagie, with dark eyes that reflected joy as a still pool reflects the light of stars; and her rounded cheek was tinged like the pink crepe myrtle. Mam'selle Pauline kissed her and trembled.
gunboat "Myrtle," and the story of their terrible privations has become quite as well known as the far more horrible "Medusa" case.
She certainly looked very charming as she strolled, lingering along under the budding horse-chestnut trees that stretched their long arms over the park-palings; with her closed book in one hand, and in the other a graceful sprig of myrtle, which served her as a very pretty plaything; her bright ringlets escaping profusely from her little bonnet, and gently stirred by the breeze, her fair cheek flushed with gratified vanity, her smiling blue eyes, now slyly glancing towards her admirer, now gazing downward at her myrtle sprig.
The Mediterranean, the blue sea par excellence, "the great sea" of the Hebrews, "the sea" of the Greeks, the "mare nostrum" of the Romans, bordered by orange-trees, aloes, cacti, and sea-pines; embalmed with the perfume of the myrtle, surrounded by rude mountains, saturated with pure and transparent air, but incessantly worked by underground fires; a perfect battlefield in which Neptune and Pluto still dispute the empire of the world!
Go into your garden and lift up the little marble slab at the foot of the great myrtle tree.
They will feed on barley-meal and flour of wheat, baking and kneading them, making noble cakes and loaves; these they will serve up on a mat of reeds or on clean leaves, themselves reclining the while upon beds strewn with yew or myrtle. And they and their children will feast, drinking of the wine which they have made, wearing garlands on their heads, and hymning the praises of the gods, in happy converse with one another.
Meanwhile they had slung the mighty boar across the back of a mule, and having covered it with sprigs of rosemary and branches of myrtle, they bore it away as the spoils of victory to some large field-tents which had been pitched in the middle of the wood, where they found the tables laid and dinner served, in such grand and sumptuous style that it was easy to see the rank and magnificence of those who had provided it.