flowers

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of flower.

   Bees moved from one cluster of flowers to the next all afternoon.

   The florist trimmed the stems before bundling the flowers together.

   Note

   The plural covers only the countable uses of flower: blooms, the small plants that bear them, and cut stems bound for a vase or a gift. The sense of being in bloom is usually uncountable, so a garden is in flower, never "in flowers." The spelling is shared with the present-tense verb, and only the sentence tells "the plant flowers" from "the plant's flowers."

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of flower.

   The orchid flowers reliably whenever the temperature stays mild.

   A young apple tree rarely flowers in its first season.

   Note

   Nearly every use of this form stands without an object: the orchid flowers, and a young talent flowers when it reaches full development. Only the decorative sense takes one, as when a potter flowers a jug with painted blooms. An older use, now archaic, describes new beer that froths as it ferments gently. A line like "the ale flowers in the cask" belongs to period writing, not modern prose.

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