Vi"o*let (?), n. [F. violette a violet (cf. violet violet-colored), dim. of OF. viole a violet, L. viola; akin to Gr. . Cf. Iodine.]
1. Bot.
Any plant or flower of the genus Viola, of many species. The violets are generally low, herbaceous plants, and the flowers of many of the species are blue, while others are white or yellow, or of several colors, as the pansy (Viola tricolor).
The cultivated sweet violet is Viola odorata of Europe. The common blue violet of the eastern United States is V. cucullata; the sand, or bird-foot, violet is V. pedata.
2.
The color of a violet, or that part of the spectrum farthest from red. It is the most refrangible part of the spectrum.
3.
In art, a color produced by a combination of red and blue in equal proportions; a bluish purple color.
Mollett.
4. Zool.
Any one of numerous species of small violet-colored butterflies belonging to Lycaena, or Rusticus, and allied genera.
Corn violet. See under Corn. -- Dame's violet. Bot. See Damewort. -- Dogtooth violet. Bot. See under Dogtooth. -- Water violet Bot., an aquatic European herb (Hottonia palustris) with pale purplish flowers and pinnatifid leaves.
© Webster 1913.
Vi"o*let (?), a. [Cf. F. violet. See Violet, n.]
Dark blue, inclining to red; bluish purple; having a color produced by red and blue combined.
Violet shell Zool., any species of Ianthina; -- called also violet snail. See Lanthina. -- Violet wood, a name given to several kinds of hard purplish or reddish woods, as king wood, myall wood, and the wood of the Andira violacea, a tree of Guiana.
© Webster 1913.