From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishnarcissusnar‧cis‧sus /nɑːˈsɪsəs $ nɑːr-/ noun (plural narcissi /-saɪ/) [countable] HBPDLGa yellow or white spring flower, such as the daffodil
Examples from the Corpus
narcissus• My house feels solid and safe and orderly; hyacinths and narcissus bloom indoors here even in the dead of winter.• Alek brought her a cluster of early narcissus and she wore a short white gown with a grass-blade pattern.• They stole my narcissus bulbs that I had been so carefully forcing to bloom in January.• Full mouth, high neck, blue-eyed flower girl, his slender pale narcissus.• This was not the only story about the narcissus.• Among flowers and trees he should admire the narcissus, the violet and the orange.• The narcissus is one of two plants around which the story revolves.• With its skirt-shaped cups and narrow petals, this narcissus is known as the hoop petticoat daffodil.NarcissusNarcissus in Greek mythology, a beautiful young man who fell in love with his own reflection when he saw his face in a pool of water. Because he became very unhappy as a result, he gradually became so weak that he died. A flower grew up in the place where he died, which was called a narcissus after him. → see also narcissismOrigin narcissus (1500-1600) Latin Greek narkissos, from narke ( → NARCOTIC1); because it contains a substance that puts you to sleep 