dead man's finger(sn.
1. A local name for various species of Orchis, properly those with palmate tubers, as O. maculata and latifolia; in Shakespeare probably the Early Purple Orchis, O. mascula. Also applied to Arum maculatum, Lotus corniculatus, and Alopecurus pratensis. (Britten & Holland.)
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > orchids > early purple orchids
standengussa1400
standelworta1500
gandergoose?1550
adder's grass1551
ragwort1552
cuckoo orchis1578
fool's ballocks1578
Palma Christi1578
standergrass1578
fool's stones1597
fox-stones1597
goat's stones1597
goat stones1597
testicles1597
dead man's finger1604
long purples1604
dead man's thumb1652
man orchis1670
monkey orchisa1678
meadow orchis1753
military orchis1784
male orchis1785
ram's horn1832
lady orchis1846
dead man's hand1853
scorpion plant1866
phalaenopsid1880
walking orchid1910
soldier orchid1934
1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iv. vii. 143 Long Purples..our cull-cold maydes doe dead mens fingers call them.
1853 G. Johnston Terra Lindisfarnensis I. 193 Orchis latifolia. The root, from its shape, is sometimes called..Dead-men's-fingers.
2. The zoophyte Alcyonium digitatum: = dead man's hand n. 1.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Diploblastica > phylum Coelenterata > [noun] > class Anthozoa Actinozoa > order Alcyonaria > genus Alcyonium > member of
sea-foam1725
dead man's hand1755
dead man's toes1755
mermaid's glove1793
alcyonian1844
alcyonoid1857
dead man's finger1860
alcyonarian1861
dead man's thumb1863
sea-finger1876
1860 W. S. Dallas Nat. Hist. Animal Kingdom 54.
1865 P. H. Gosse Year at Shore 73.
1872 J. D. Dana Corals & Coral Islands 83.
3. The finger-like divisions of the branchiæ or gills in a lobster or crab.
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1806 J. Beresford Miseries Human Life I. ix. 217 In eating lobster—getting the Lady, or half a dozen stripes of the dead man's fingers, into your mouth.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1894; most recently modified version published online March 2018).
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n.1604