PIMPERNEL

pimpernel

(noun) any of several plants of the genus Anagallis

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

pimpernel (plural pimpernels)

(now rare) A plant of the genus Pimpinella, especially burnet saxifrage, Pimpinella saxifraga. [from 16th c.]

Any of various plants of the genus Anagallis, having small red, white or purple flowers, especially the scarlet pimpernel, Anagallis arvensis. [from 15th c.]

Sanguisorba spp. [from 16th c.]

great burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis) [from 16th c.]

Salad burnet (Sanguisorba minor). [from 16th c.]

(North America) A yellow pimpernel (Taenidia integerrima)

(figurative) Someone resembling the fictional Scarlet Pimpernel; a gallant dashing resourceful man given to remarkable feats of bravery and derring-do in liberating victims of tyranny and injustice. [from 20th c.]

Source: Wiktionary

Pim"per*nel, n. Etym: [F. pimprenelle; cf. Sp. pimpinela, It. pimpinella; perh. from LL. bipinnella, for bipinnula two-winged, equiv. to L. bipennis; bis twice + penna feather, wing. Cf. Pen a feather.] (Bot.)

Definition: A plant of the genus Anagallis, of which one species (A. arvensis) has small flowers, usually scarlet, but sometimes purple, blue, or white, which speedily close at the approach of bad weather. Water pimpernel. (Bot.) See Brookweed.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition