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heirloom. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
heirloom, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
heirloom in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
heirloom you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English heirlome (“heirloom”, literally “a tool or article passed to one's heirs”), equivalent to heir + loom.
Pronunciation
Noun
heirloom (plural heirlooms)
- A valued possession that has been passed down through the generations.
- Synonym: patrimony
- (horticulture) An old crop variety that has been passed down through generations of farmers by seed saving and cultivation, in contrast to modern cultivars used in large-scale agriculture.
2009 August 19, Melissa Clark, “Plums Rescue a Seasonal Favorite”, in New York Times:My last trip to the market barely yielded enough unmealy heirlooms for a couple of salads.
2014 September 26, Charles Quest-Ritson, “The Dutch garden where tulip bulbs live forever: Hortus Bulborum, a volunteer-run Dutch garden, is dedicated to conserving historic varieties before they vanish for good [print version: Inspired by a living bulb archive, 27 September 2014, p. G5]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Gardening):At Hortus Bulborum you will find heirloom narcissi that date back at least to the 15th century and famous old tulips like 'Duc van Tol' (1595) and its sports.
2017 January 26, Nick Visser, “Scientists Say Something Is Very Wrong With The Tomato”, in HuffPost:In a paper published Thursday in the journal Science, a team of researchers say they analyzed the genetic code of nearly 400 varieties of tomatoes ― from the common red supermarket types to the funky heirlooms found in farmers markets.
Translations
valued possession passed down through the generations
crop variety that has been passed down through generations
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