Definition of "lotus" []

• An aquatic plant (Nelumbo nucifera) native to southern Asia and Australia, having large leaves, fragrant, pinkish flowers, a broad, rounded, perforated seedpod, and fleshy rhizomes. (noun)
• The edible seed, leaf, or rhizome of this plant. (noun)
• Any of several similar or related plants, such as the water lilies Nymphaea caerula or N. lotus. (noun)
• A representation of any of various lotuses or similar plants in Egyptian or classical sculpture, architecture, or art. (noun)
• Any of several leguminous plants of the genus Lotus. (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.

• "Dr. Taylor, in his Topography of Dacca, speaks of fecula or starch being obtained from the Egyptian lotus (_Nymphæa lotus_), which is used by the native practitioners as a substitute for arrowroot."
• "Specially characteristic of Egypt, though not altogether peculiar to it, were the papyrus and the lotus -- the _Cyperus papyrus_ and _Nymphæa lotus_ of botanists."
• "The gourd-shaped vase, covered in lotus flowers and vine-like tendrils, was made in the Imperial workshops of Qianlong."