posy

plural posies

1. A flower; a small bouquet; a nosegay.First known use 1570s

   And I will make thee beds of roses, / And a thousand fragrant posies;

   c. 1587, Christopher Marlowe, The Passionate Shepherd to His Love

   1 more example

   'Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed.

   1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

2. archaicA verse of poetry, especially a motto or an inscription on a ring.First known use early 15th c.

   Is this a Prologue, or the Poeſie of a Ring?

   c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 267, column 2