Definition of "saffron" [saf•fron]

• A corm-producing plant (Crocus sativus) native to the Old World, having purple or white flowers with orange stigmas. (noun)
• The dried aromatic stigmas of this plant, used to color foods and as a cooking spice and dyestuff. (noun)
• A moderate or strong orange yellow to moderate orange. (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.

• "Check at your major produce distribution center in D.F. And you are right ... so-called mexican saffron is absolutly NOT a substitute for real saffron ..."
• "The killers were dressed in saffron scarves and khaki shorts, the uniform of the RSS, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (Organization of National Volunteers) — the umbrella group of the Hindu nationalist movement — and came armed with swords and gas cylinders, as well as electoral registers and computer printouts of addresses."
• "In Chelsea Manhattan, two weeks before Halloween, white powdered, barefoot Beings in saffron skirts and robes moving on crystal sand escort us to our essence where we are quiet; grace reigns (rains)."