cowslip

plural cowslips · alternative obsolete couslip · alternative obsolete cowslippe

1. A low-growing plant, Primula veris, with yellow flowers.

   Where the bee sucks, there suck I: / In a cowslip's bell I lie;

   1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]

   1 more example

   Here is spring were celandine, marsh marigold, wind-flower, primrose, cowslip and dog's violet.

   1977, K.M. Elizabeth Murray, Caught in the Web of Words, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 13

   Synonyms: paigle, herb Peter

2. Any of several other plants related or similar in appearance
   1. Primula deorum, a flowering plant known as God's cowslip and rila cowslip
   2. Primula florindae, a flowering plant known as giant cowslip and Tibetan cowslip
   3. Primula sikkimensis, a flowering plant known as Himalayan cowslip and Sikkim cowslip
   4. CanadaUSregionalmarsh marigold, Caltha palustris, a plant in the buttercup family, growing in wet, boggy locations.

      Synonyms: marsh marigold, kingcup, mayflower, mollyblobs, pollyblobs, horse blob

   5. Pulmonaria angustifolia, blue cowslip or narrow-leaved lungwort
3. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of cowslip tea: a kind of green tea; an herbal tea made with cowslip flowers.