JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Jack-in-the-pulpit

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/dʒæk-ɪn-ðə-pˈʊlpɪt/ Listen

noun

jack-in-the-pulpit n.

A common American spring-flowering woodland herb (Arisaema triphyllum) having sheathing leaves and an upright club-shaped spadix with overarching green and purple spathe producing scarlet berries; also called Indian turnip.

Synonyms: Indian turnip, wake-robin, Arisaema triphyllum, Arisaema atrorubens.

A common European arum (Arum maculatum) with lanceolate spathe and short purple spadix; it emerges in early spring and is a source of a sagolike starch called arum.

Synonyms: cuckoo-pint, cuckoopint, lords and ladies, lords-and-ladies, Arum maculatum.

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Etymology of 'Jack-in-the-pulpit'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Jack-in-the-pulpit" Quotes from Famous Books

... seasons would halt. Though science lay me by the heels, I'll assert that the crocus, which is a pioneer on the windy borderland of March, would not show its head except on the sounding of the hurdy-gurdy. I'll not deny that flowers pop up their heads afield without such call, that the jack-in-the-pulpit speaks its maiden sermon on some other beckoning of nature. But in the city it is the hurdy-gurdy that gives notice of the turning of the seasons. On its sudden blare I've seen the green stalk of the daffodil jiggle. If ...

— Journeys to Bagdad • Charles S. Brooks