Columbine

Definitions

1. Any plant of the genus Aquilegia, having distinctive bell-shaped flowers with spurs on each petal.
2. A census-designated place in Arapahoe County and Jefferson County, Colorado, United States.
3. An incident in which someone shoots multiple people at a school.
   slang
4. The sweetheart of Harlequin in old pantomimes.

Equivalents

21 more languages

العربيةالزهرة

БългарскиГълъбов

Catalàcorniol

Češtinaorlíček

Esperantoakvilegiokolomba

Suomiakileija

Galegoarreitópaxariños

Íslenskavatnsberi

Italianoaquilegiacolombina

日本語オダマキ苧環

ქართულიწყალიკრეფია

한국어매발톱꽃

Македонскикандилка

Nederlandsakelei

Polskiorlik

Portuguêsaquilégia

Românăcăldărușă

Русскийводосборголуби́ный

Svenskaakleja

Türkçehasekiküpesi

Українськаоксамит

Examples

“In 1999 at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, 18-year-old Eric Harris and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold killed 12 of their fellow students and a teacher before taking their own⟳ lives in the school library.”

“The Clown is a London cockney, with a prodigious eye to his own⟳ comfort and muffins,—a Lord Mayor's fool, who loved "everything that was good;" and Columbine is the boarding-school girl, ripe for running away with, and making a dance⟳ of it all the way from Chelsea to Gretna Green.”

“Research⟳ indicates that many children are afraid of “a Columbine” occurring in their school, or are concerned about other forms of school violence (Aronson, 2000; Garbarino & deLara, 2002; Gaughan et al., 2001; National Association of Attorneys General, 2000).”

“Granted, I'm not exactly grabbing an ax and going to town or pulling a “Columbine” but the idea of engaging in such activities has crossed my twisted little mind⟳ and plagued my black little heart in dreams only.”

“I remember⟳ the second song that played was “Run⟳ to the Hills.” I thought my head was going to explode⟳, thinking we were ten minutes away from a Columbine.”

“You've got people in your schools right now plotting a Columbine.”

“The suburbs are supposedly where nothing happens, like⟳ Auden said about what poetry doesn't do; an overinhabited faux terrain dozing in inertia, occasionally disrupted by “a Columbine” or “an Oklahoma City” or a hurricane to remind⟳ us what's really real.”

CEFR level