Word of the Day: Bloom

bloom / blo͞om

noun

1.      the flowering part of a plant

I draw flowers every day and send them to my friends so they get fresh blooms every morning.

David Hockney, 1937-

2.      flowers collectively

It would be lovely to sleep in a wild cherry-tree all white with bloom in the moonshine.

from ‘Anne of Windy Poplars’ by L. M. Montgomery, 1874-1942

3.      a state or time of great success and achievement

Every parcel of my being is in full bloom.

Rumi, 1207-1273

4.      a flush or glow in the cheek indicating youth and health

Beautiful is the bloom of youth, but it lasts only for a short time.

Theocritus, c. 300 BC – 260 BC

5.      fresh appearance on the surface of meat

With continued exposure to light, the fresh meat’s appealing red or purple bloom is replaced by an unappetizing and permanent brown or grey color.

6.      in botany, a whitish powdery substance that coats the surface of fruits and leaves

The finest quantities of our nature, like the bloom on fruits, can be preserved only by the most delicate handling.

Henry David Thoreau, 1817-1862

7.      the sudden appearance of development of organisms, like algae, on the surface of water

Algal blooms can affect environmental and human health, as well as have an impact on economies that depend on fishing and tourism.

Sumeep Bath, ?-

8.      the state of flowering

If you feel lost, disappointed, hesitant, or weak, return to yourself, to who you are, here and now, and when you get there, you will discover yourself, like a lotus flower in full bloom, even in a muddy pond, beautiful and strong.

from ‘Secret Life of Water’ by Masaru Emoto, 1943-2014

verb

1.      to produce blossoms

Culture and art are the roses that bloom on the stem.

Daisaku Ikeda, 1928-

2.      to thrive or flourish

Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom?

Thich Nhat Hanh, 1926-

3.      to be in a state of youthful health and vigor

…Now his eyes anticipate the vision of beauty – warm, and blooming, and lovely, in rest.

from ‘Jane Eyre’ by Charlotte Brontë, 1816-1855

4.      to glow with warmth or color

I saw how the fine form of man was disregarded and wasted; I beheld the corruption of death succeed to the blooming cheek of life; I saw how the worm inherited the wonders of the eye and brain.

from ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley, 1797-1851

5.      to cause a cloudy area to develop

Looking at the season’s last vestiges of his carefully tended garden, he placed his forehead to the glass, the breath from his nostrils blooming frost on the pane.

from ‘The Poet of Tolstoy Park’ by Sonny Brewer, 1949-

6.      in meat, to turn from purple to red

Interestingly enough, once meat has bloomed, the length of time it stays red can depend on the antioxidant content of the meat.

Ed Blonz, ?-

7.      to mature into achievement of one’s full potential

Solitude is the soil in which genius is planted, creativity grows, and legends bloom; faith in oneself is the rain that cultivates a hero to endure the storm, and bare the genesis of a new world, a new forest.

from ‘White Mountain’ by Mike Norton, 1988-