crotal

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun any of several lichens of the genus Parmelia from which reddish brown or purple dyes are made

Either from French crotale or directly from Latin crotalum. Ultimately from Ancient Greek κρόταλον (krótalon, “clapper”). Doublet of crotalum.

Above her head she swung copper bells, castanets or ‘crotals,’--swung them lazily, so that they tinkled very faintly. — The Satyricon — Complete, Petronius Arbiter
Then the king-fern, the splendid osmunda regalis; the delicate maidenhair and hart's-tongue, rooted in the crannies of walls; bog-mint and bog-myrtle, deliciously fragrant after rain, and the white tossing ceanabhán; brier-roses and woodbine; the drooping convolvulus; blue-bough; Fairies' cabbage, or London Pride; pignuts and anemones; amber water-lilies, curiously scented; orchises, purple and white; wild daffodils and marigolds, gilding the wet meadows between hills; crotal, a moss rather than a herb, but beautiful to look at and most serviceable to the dyer; eyebright and purple mountain saxifrage; crested ling; tufts of sea-holly, with their green, fleshy, spiked leaves; and lake-sedge and sand-grass, blown through by soft winds and murmurous with the hum of bees. — Mearing Stones: Leaves from My Note-Book on Tramp in Donegal, Joseph Campbell

crottle, crottal

Type a word, a sentence, a book title, or a link to an English article. WordNet and the Classics answer.

Try

A library of classics · a vault of words · instant etymology & meaning

From: —

Output

Worksheet Type (multi-select)

Scope

Difficulty

Max questions

0 words Min 50 words / Max 2,000 words