Spring Crocus

crocus
[a. L. crocus, a. Gr. the crocus, and its product saffron: app. of Semitic origin; cf. Heb. karkom, crocus, saffron, Arab. kurkum, saffron, turmeric. See Lacaita, Etymology of Crocus and Saffron, 1886. Not known as an Eng. name to the 16th c. herbalists, though OE. had croh saffron, Ir. and Gael. croch, from Latin.]

1. A genus of hardy dwarf bulbous plants, family Iridaceæ, natives of southern and central Europe, the Levant, and Western Asia, and commonly cultivated for their brilliant flowers, which are usually deep yellow or purple, and appear before the leaves in early spring, or in some species in autumn. The autumnal species, C. sativus, yields SAFFRON.

2. Saffron; the stigma of Crocus sativus. Obs. (In OE. croh.)

3. a. Old Chem. A name given to various yellow or red powders obtained from metals by calcination; as crocus of antimony (crocus antimonii or c. metallorum), a more or less impure oxysulphide of antimony; crocus of copper (c. veneris), cuprous oxide; crocus of iron (c. martis; also in 15th c. crokefer), sesquioxide or peroxide of iron. b. The name is still applied to the peroxide of iron obtained by calcination of sulphate of iron, and used as a polishing powder.

4. slang. A quack doctor.
[It has been surmised that this originated in the Latinized surname of Dr. Helkiah Crooke, author of a Description of the Body of Man, 1615, Instruments of Chirurgery, 1631, etc.]

5. attrib. and Comb., as crocus-bag, -bed, -bordered adj., -flower, -powder (= 3b), -scent.