marsh orchis
now rare
noun
(Originally) a supposedly single orchid species of the genus Orchis found in marshes and damp meadows in Europe, later recognized as comprising two or more species and subspecies; (in later use) any of the segregates into which the ‘marsh orchis’ (as originally understood in Britain) was divided.
Origin
Early 19th century; earliest use found in John Vaughan Thompson (1779–1847), surgeon and naturalist.
- the love that dare not speak its name
- the Lower House
- the lowest of the low
- the Lowlands
- the luck of the draw
- the lull before the storm
- the lull (or calm) before the storm
- them
- the Mafia
- the Magdalen
- the Magdalene
- the mailed fist
- the mails
- the Malverns
- the Man
- the Man in (also with) the Iron Mask
- the man in black
- the man in (or on) the street
- the man in the moon
- the man in white
- the man on the Clapham omnibus
- the Mansion House
- the Maquis
- the Marches
- the Marianas