verdure

Inherited from Middle English verdure, from Middle French verdure, from Old French verdure, from Late Latin *viridūra, from viridis (“green”) +‎ -ūra (abstract noun-forming suffix).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈvɜːd͡ʒə/, /ˈvɜːdjə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈvɝd͡ʒɚ/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)dʒə(ɹ)
• Homophone: verger (one pronunciation)
• Hyphenation: ver‧dure

verdure (countable and uncountable, plural verdures)

1. The greenness of lush or growing vegetation (greenery); also: the vegetation itself.

   Synonyms: verdancy, greenliness, greenth

   Hypernym: greenness

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     […] now he was / The ivy which had hid my princely trunk, / And suck'd my verdure out on't.

   • 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:

     The five weeks which she had now passed in Kent had made a great difference in the country, and every day was adding to the verdure of the early trees.

   • 1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 1, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:

     To her belonged Amber Spring, the water which gave verdure and beauty to the village and made living possible on that wild purple upland waste.

   • 1952, Norman Lewis, Golden Earth:

     Through the brazen hours that followed high noon, we crept onwards through a tunnel of glittering verdure.

   • 1954 August, H. M. Madgwick, “The Blaenau Festiniog Tunnel”, in Railway Magazine, page 569:

     This is itself a cheerless spot, particularly on a rainy day, when, overshadowed by the great massif of rock that towers in the background, and surrounded by the grey and cheerless quarries, it has a depressing character much in contrast with the green verdure encountered on the northern end of this interesting branch line.

2. (by extension) A condition of health and vigour.

• verdant
• verdurous

verdure (third-person singular simple present verdures, present participle verduring, simple past and past participle verdured)

1. (transitive) To cover with verdure.

• reverdure

verdure

1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of verduren

From vert (“green”) +‎ -ure (noun-forming suffix), or from Vulgar Latin *virdūra.

• IPA^(key): /vɛʁ.dyʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -yʁ

verdure f (plural verdures)

1. verdure, greenness

• → Romanian: verdură

• “verdure”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• IPA^(key): /verˈdu.re/
• Rhymes: -ure
• Hyphenation: ver‧dù‧re

verdure f pl

1. plural of verdura

• verder, verdour, verdoure, verdur

Borrowed from Middle French verdure, from Old French verdure, from Late Latin *viridūra; reinforced by Middle French verdeur. By surface analysis, vert +‎ -ure.

• IPA^(key): /vɛrˈdiu̯r(ə)/
• IPA^(key): /vɛrˈduːr/ (from Middle French verdeur)
• IPA^(key): /ˈvɛrdur(ə)/, /ˈvɛrdər(ə)/ (reduced)

verdure (uncountable)

1. Verdure, greenery; lush vegetation.
2. The greenness or vitality associated with such vegetation
3. (rare) A kind of ornamental tapestry with botanical imagery.

• English: verdure (obsolete verdour)
• Middle Scots: verdeour, verdur, verdure, vardour, wairdour

• “verdūre, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.