orris
/ˈɒrɪs
/(also orris root)
noun [mass noun]
A preparation of the fragrant rootstock of an iris, used in perfumery and formerly in medicine.
- The root is usually taken from Iris × germanica variety ‘Florentina’.
- Mix the lemon oil with the chopped orris root and add to the dried leaves.
- The lady's clothes seemed to fill the whole carnage, and out of this little padded box there drifted a perfume of orris, an indefinable scent of feminine elegance.
Origin
Mid 16th century: apparently an unexplained alteration of iris.
Rhymes
- breathing
- breathing apparatus
- breathing room
- breathing space
- breathless
- breathlessly
- breathlessness
- breath mint
- breathtaking
- breathtakingly
- breath test
- breathy
- breccia
- brecciate
- brecciation
- Brecht, Bertolt
- Brechtian
- Breckinridge, John C.
- Brecknockshire
- Breconshire
- bred
- Breda
- bredie
- bred-in-the-bone
- breech