English

Noun

1. A plant that turns so that it faces the sun.
2. Particularly, a purple-flowered plant of the species Heliotropium arborescens.
   • 1870, Benjamin Disraeli, Lothair

     As they entered now, it seemed a blaze of roses and carnations, though one recognized in a moment the presence of the lily, the heliotrope, and the stock.

3. A light purple or violet colour.
   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, page 623

     "...the face of Dr. Willi Dingkopf, framed by a haircut in violation of more than one law of physics, and a vivid necktie in fuchsia, heliotrope, and duck green..."

4. The fragrance of heliotrope flowers.
   • 1881, Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady

     ... he had always smelt so much more of heliotrope than of gunpowder.

5. A bloodstone (a variety of quartz).

Adjective

1. Light purple or violet.
   • 1904, Jerome K. Jerome, Tommy and Co.

     Lady in a heliotrope dress with a lace collar, three flounces on the skirt?

   • 1917, Zane Grey, Wildfire

     And following that was a tortuous passage through a weird region of clay dunes, blue and violet and heliotrope and lavender, all worn smooth by rain and wind.

2. Keeping one’s face turned toward the sun.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick

     while still as on the night before, slouched Ahab stood fixed within his scuttle; his hid, heliotrope glance anticipatingly gone backward on its dial; sat due eastward for the earliest sun.