[lo.tus] n [L & Gk; L lotus, fr. Gk lotos] (ca. 1541) 1 also lo.tos : a fruit eaten by the lotus-eaters and considered to cause indolence and dreamy contentment; also: a tree (as Zizyphus lotus of the buckthorn family) reputed to bear this fruit
2: any of various water lilies including several represented in ancient Egyptian and Hindu art and religious symbolism 3 [NL, fr. L] a: any of a genus (Lotus) of widely distributed upright leguminous herbs or subshrubs b: sweet clover