Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PI'O-NY, or PE'O-NY, n. [Sax. pionie, from L. pæonia; Gr. παιωνια, from παιων, Apollo, a physician, and a hymn.]

An herbaceous perennial plant, Pæonia officinalis, with tuberous roots, and bearing large beautiful red flowers. Also the popular name of all the species of the genus Pæonia, the individual species being distinguished by prefixing some appropriate descriptive epithet. – Encyc.