Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CY'ME, or CY'MA, n. [Gr. κυμα, fetus, from κυω, to swell.]

1. Literally, a sprout, particularly of the cabbage. Technically, an aggregate of flowers composed of several florets sitting on a receptacle, producing all the primary peduncles from the same point, but having the partial peduncles scattered and irregular; all fastigiate, or forming a flat surface at the top. It is naked or with bractes. – Martyn.
2. A panicle, the elongation of all the ramifications of which is arrested, so that it has the appearance of an umbel. – Lindley.