marcescent
English
Etymology
From Latin marcescens, present participle of marcescere
Adjective
marcescent (not comparable)
- (botany, of an organ, such as a leaf or blossom; rarely also used figuratively) Withered, but still attached.
- a. 1893, Edith M. Thomas, The Undertime of the Year, published in The Atlantic Monthly, volume 72 (October 1893), page 452:
- How often is the flower of human life marcescent, tenacious of its old estate when the blooming-time is past.
- 1990, Tom Robbins, Another Roadside Attraction, page 75:
- “But,” she answered, “granting that Mon Cul is a remarkable creature, that he is the elder statesman among monkeys, that his marcescent eyelids have opened upon sights and splendors about which the most romantic among us only dream, […] ”
- a. 1893, Edith M. Thomas, The Undertime of the Year, published in The Atlantic Monthly, volume 72 (October 1893), page 452:
- (mycology) Able to revive when moistened.
Latin
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