SAFFRON • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Saffron

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/sˈæfrən/ Listen

noun

Saffron n.

(Bot.) A bulbous iridaceous plant (Crocus sativus) having blue flowers with large yellow stigmas. See Crocus.

The aromatic, pungent, dried stigmas, usually with part of the stile, of the Crocus sativus. Saffron is used in cookery, and in coloring confectionery, liquors, varnishes, etc., and was formerly much used in medicine.

An orange or deep yellow color, like that of the stigmas of the Crocus sativus.

Bastard saffron, Dyer's saffron. (Bot.) See Safflower.

Meadow saffron (Bot.), a bulbous plant (Colchichum autumnale) of Europe, resembling saffron.

Saffron wood (Bot.), the yellowish wood of a South African tree (Elaeodendron croceum); also, the tree itself.

Saffron yellow, a shade of yellow like that obtained from the stigmas of the true saffron (Crocus sativus).

adjective

Saffron adj. Having the color of the stigmas of saffron flowers; deep orange-yellow; as, a saffron face; a saffron streamer.

verb

Saffron v. t. To give color and flavor to, as by means of saffron; to spice. (Obs.) "And in Latyn I speak a wordes few, To saffron with my predication."

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Etymology of 'Saffron'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Saffron" Quotes from Famous Books

... Aldebaran, Arcturus, and the Northern Crown; with the morning star, the lightbringer, once now and then when I saw it, a white-gold ball in the violet-purple sky, or framed about with pale summer vapour floating away as red streaks shot horizontally in the east. A diffused saffron ascended into the luminous upper azure. The disk of the sun rose over the hill, fluctuating with throbs of light; his chest heaved in fervour of brilliance. All the glory of the sunrise filled me with broader and furnace-like vehemence of prayer. That ...

— The Story of My Heart • Richard Jefferies

... yet the saffron light lingers; The stars throb in nebulous lustre, As our hearts to ...

— Sandhya - Songs of Twilight • Dhan Gopal Mukerji

... a strange court. The nobles were dressed in black or dull saffron-coloured tunics, with great, shaggy cloaks of the natural hue of the wool they were made of, and but for the rich gold ornaments they wore on their arms and necks, there was little to choose between their attire and that of their followers. Not one wore mail, but their swords were ...

— A Sea Queen's Sailing • Charles Whistler

... Clopton, Clerk of the Bow Bell,— A tall thin man, with yellow hair a-stream, And blazing eyes. "Hide me," he clamoured, "quick! These picaroons will murder me!" I closed The thick oak doors against the coloured storm Of prentices in red and green and ray, Saffron and Reading tawny. Twenty clubs Drubbed on the panels as I barred them out; And even our walls and shutters could not drown Their song that, like a mocking peal of bells, Under our windows, ...

— Collected Poems - Volume Two (of 2) • Alfred Noyes

... shadow. And there, far beyond them, up against the sky, was the line of the mountains—blue, purple, and gold, according as the light fell upon them. The sun had taken his plunge, but he had left behind him his robes of saffron and gold. We stood long without a word or movement, filling our hearts with the silence and the beauty, till the gold in the west began to grow dim. High above all the night was stretching her star-pierced, blue canopy, and drawing slowly ...

— The Sky Pilot • Ralph Connor

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