wallflower

English
WOTD – 27 November 2009
Wallflowers

Etymology

wall +‎ flower

Alternative forms

Pronunciation
  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈwɔːl.ˌflɑʊ.ə/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈwɔl.ˌflɑʊ.ɚ/, /ˈwɑl.ˌflɑʊ.ɚ/
  • Audio (AU)(file)

Noun

wallflower (plural wallflowers)

  1. Any of several short-lived herbs or shrubs of the Erysimum genus with bright yellow to red flowers.
  2. Gastrolobium grandiflorum, a poisonous bushy shrub, endemic to Australia.
  3. (informal) A person who is socially awkward, especially one who does not dance at a party due to shyness.

Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

wallflower (third-person singular simple present wallflowers, present participle wallflowering, simple past and past participle wallflowered)

  1. (intransitive) To stand shyly apart from a dance, waiting to be asked to join in.
    • 2010, Alexandra Carter, ‎Janet O'Shea, The Routledge Dance Studies Reader (page 237)
      […] the idea that a full tango experience is impossible without the presence of wallflowers and without the threat of wallflowering as the potential dancers enter the tango club.
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