bluebottle
noun
Forms bluebottles blue-bottle
- noun A cornflower, a plant that grows in grain fields, Centaurea cyanus.
- noun Any of various blowflies of the genus Calliphora that have an iridescent metallic-blue body and make a loud buzzing noise when flying.
- noun A blue ant, Diamma bicolor, a parasitic wasp native to Australia.
- noun Any of various large papilionid butterflies of the genus Graphium, also called triangles, etc.
- noun (UK, Australia, Ireland, slang, derogatory) A police officer.
- noun (derogatory, obsolete) A bluestocking.
- noun A marine jellyfish of the genus Physalia, which includes Physalia physalis, the Portuguese man-of-war, and Physalia utriculus, the Pacific man-of-war; a man-of-war.
Synonyms
cornflower bachelor's button Centaurea cyanus Calliphora vicina
Etymology
From Middle English blewbothel, from blew (“blue”) + bothel (“flower in the Asteraceae family”). In sense 2, a shortening of bluebottle fly. The fly was so named because it resembles the bluebottle flower in colour. The other transferred senses likewise have reference to the colour of the respective referents.
From blue + bottle, in reference to the creature's bottle-like bladder.
Webster’s 1913
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “bluebottle”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details