woolly thistle

1. 1.

   biennial Eurasian white hairy thistle having pale purple flowers; naturalized in North America

   Synonymscotton thistleScotch thistleOnopordum acanthiumOnopordon acanthium

   Broaderthistle

   Part ofOnopordum
2. 2.

   thistle of western North America having white woolly leaves

   SynonymsCirsium flodmanii

   Broaderplume thistle

   NarrowerEuropean woolly thistle

Questions about woolly thistle

What does woolly thistle mean?

woolly thistle means "biennial Eurasian white hairy thistle having pale purple flowers; naturalized in North America". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

What is another word for woolly thistle?

Close synonyms include cotton thistle, Scotch thistle, Onopordum acanthium, Onopordon acanthium, Cirsium flodmanii. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is woolly thistle a common word?

woolly thistle is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.