Daisy
WordNet
noun
(1) Any of numerous composite plants having flower heads with well-developed ray flowers usually arranged in a single whorl
WiktionaryText
Etymology
From the flower daisy, one of the flower names dating from the 19th century. Also a nickname for Margaret, since Marguerite and Margarita are identical with the French and Spanish word for "daisy".
Quotations
- 1867 Alice Cary, The Bishop's Son, G. W. Carleton&Co, 1867, page 31:
- Mrs. Fairfax kept always an eye upon him, and in spite of his familiarity with her, so restrained him in his intercourse with Margaret, that he could not for his life call her Daisy any more, though he had done so on the first day of their acquaintance.
- 1892 Harry Dacre, Daisy Bell ( a song ) :
- Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do!
- I'm half crazy all for the love of you!
- 1929 Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeward, Angel, Moder Library 1957, page 45
- She was a timid, sensitive girl, looking like her name - Daisy-ish industrious and thorough in her studies; - - -
- 1976 R. K. Narayan, The Painter of Signs, Penguin Classics 1982, ISBN 0140185496, page 115
- "Isn't she a Christian or something - a name which is..."
- "Nothing more than the name of a flower, that's all. Daisy is a flower." He realized he was not sure what flower it was. "It's a most lovely flower grown in America, England, and so forth. What is wrong with that name?"