Brewer's: Gillyflower

(g soft) is not the Julyflower, but the French giroflée, from girofle (a clove), called by Chaucer “gilofre.” The common stock, the wallflower, the rocket, the clove pink, and several other plants are so called. (Greek karuophullon; Latin, caryophyllum, the clove gillyflower.)

The fairest flowers o' the season Are our carnations and streaked gillyflowers.

Shakespeare: Winter's Tale, iv. 2.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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