Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CLOVE'-GIL-LY-FLOW-ER, n.

A species of Dianthus, bearing a beautiful flower, cultivated in gardens; called also Carnation pink. Note. Some writers suppose that gilly-flower should be written July-flower. But qu. is it not a corruption of the French girofle, clou de girofle, cloves; giroflée, a gilliflower; giroflier, a stock gillyflower; L. caryophyllus. Chaucer wrote cloue gilofre. Cant. Tales, 13692. The Italians write garofano, probably for garofalo; Arm. genofles, genoflen. Johnson supposes the plant so called from the smell of the flower, resembling that of cloves; but it is probably from its shape, the nail-flower, as in Dutch. [See Clove.]