Columbine

//ˈkɒləmˌbaɪn// adj, name, noun, slang

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Pertaining to a dove or pigeon. archaic

    "It is not possible to join serpentine wisdom with the columbine innocency, except men know exactly all the conditions of the serpent."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A census-designated place in Arapahoe County and Jefferson County, Colorado, United States.

    "In 1999 at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, 18-year-old Eric Harris and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold killed 12 of their fellow students and a teacher before taking their own lives in the school library."

  2. 2
    The sweetheart of Harlequin in old pantomimes.

    "The Clown is a London cockney, with a prodigious eye to his own comfort and muffins,—a Lord Mayor's fool, who loved "everything that was good;" and Columbine is the boarding-school girl, ripe for running away with, and making a dance of it all the way from Chelsea to Gretna Green."

Noun
  1. 1
    Any plant of the genus Aquilegia, having distinctive bell-shaped flowers with spurs on each petal.
  2. 2
    An incident in which someone shoots multiple people at a school. slang

    "Research indicates that many children are afraid of “a Columbine” occurring in their school, or are concerned about other forms of school violence (Aronson, 2000; Garbarino & deLara, 2002; Gaughan et al., 2001; National Association of Attorneys General, 2000)."

  3. 3
    a plant of the genus Aquilegia having irregular showy spurred flowers; north temperate regions especially mountains wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

From the Latin colombina herba (“dove-like plant”), the flower being likened to five clustered pigeons.

Etymology 2

From Middle English columbyne, from Old French columbin (French colombin), from Latin columbinus, from columba (“dove, pigeon”).

Etymology 3

From columbine.

Etymology 4

From the school shooting that occurred at Columbine High School in 1999.

Next best steps

Mini challenge

Unscramble this word: columbine