noun Bachelor's button n. (Bot.) A plant with flowers shaped like buttons; especially, several species of Ranunculus, and the cornflower (Centaurea cyanus) and globe amaranth (Gomphrena). Note: Bachelor's buttons, a name given to several flowers "from their similitude to the jagged cloathe buttons, anciently worne in this kingdom," according to Johnson's; but by other writers ascribed to "a habit of country fellows to carry them in their pockets to divine their success with their sweethearts."
Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48
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