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Definition of "catchfly" [catch•fly]

  • Any of several plants of the genera Silene and Lychnis, native chiefly to the Northern Hemisphere and having white, pink, red, or purplish flowers and sticky stems and calyxes on which small insects may become stuck. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "catchfly" in a sentence
  • "Petunias and potatoes, for instance, have sticky hairs that trap insects, and several species of campion flowers have the common name catchfly for the same reason."
  • "Plants like petunias and potatoes have sticky hairs that trap insects, and some species of campion have the common name catchfly for the same reason."
  • "The sticky catchfly is now the floral emblem of Edinburgh."