English

Alternative forms

• bluebonnet, blue-bonnet

Wikispecies

Wikispecies

Noun

blue bonnet ‎(plural blue bonnets)

Bluebonnets (flower).

1. A traditional flat Scottish hat made of blue wool; a blue tam-o'-shanter. [from 16th c.]
   • 1791, John Sinclair, The Statistical Account of Scotland:

     The blue bonnet, a national badge, is disappearing rapidly.

   • 2009, Scotland on Sunday, 21 Aug 2009:

     While waiting for others to arrive, Margaret Scott-Stewart, a big, friendly woman of 55 in a tartan tunic and blue bonnet, smokes Royals and sings 'Charlie Is My Darling'.

2. Someone who wears such a hat; a Scotsman, especially a Scottish soldier. [from 17th c.]
   • 1817, Walter Scott, Rob Roy:

     Rob soon gathered an unco band o' blue-bonnets at his back.

3. Any of several blue flowering plants, especially cornflower, Centaurea cyanus, and plants of the genus Scabiosa. [from 18th c.]
4. A blue Australian parrot, especially Northiella haematogaster. [from 19th c.]
   • 1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber 2003, p. 402:

     And when he at last succeeds in trapping a one-guinea blue bonnet he can sit happily for hours marvelling at the beauty of its feathers, the rich blue around its parrot's beak, the yellow of its lower breast in which lovely sea you find a soft-edged island of rich blood red.

5. (US, regional) Any of several North American species of Lupinus common in the southwestern US, especially Lupinus texensis and Lupinus subcarnosus. [from 20th c.]

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