Library / English Dictionary

MILK THISTLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Tall Old World biennial thistle with large clasping white-blotched leaves and purple flower heads; naturalized in California and South America

Synonyms:

blessed thistle; holy thistle; lady's thistle; milk thistle; Our Lady's mild thistle; Silybum marianum

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("milk thistle" is a kind of...):

herb; herbaceous plant (a plant lacking a permanent woody stem; many are flowering garden plants or potherbs; some having medicinal properties; some are pests)

Holonyms ("milk thistle" is a member of...):

genus Silybum; Silybum (small genus of east African herbs)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Any of several Old World coarse prickly-leaved shrubs and subshrubs having milky juice and yellow flowers; widely naturalized; often noxious weeds in cultivated soil

Synonyms:

milk thistle; sow thistle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("milk thistle" is a kind of...):

bush; shrub (a low woody perennial plant usually having several major stems)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "milk thistle"):

milkweed; Sonchus oleraceus (annual Eurasian sow thistle with soft spiny leaves and rayed yellow flower heads)

Holonyms ("milk thistle" is a member of...):

genus Sonchus; Sonchus (sow thistles)

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