/vuy"euh lit/ , n.
1. any chiefly low, stemless or leafy-stemmed plant of the genus Viola, having purple, blue, yellow, white, or variegated flowers. Cf. violet family .
2. any such plant except the pansy and the viola.
3. the flower of any native, wild species of violet, as distinguished from the pansy: the state flower of Illinois, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.
4. any of various similar plants of other genera.
5. reddish-blue, a color at the opposite end of the visible spectrum from red, an effect of light with a wavelength between 400 and 450 nm.
adj.
6. of the color violet; reddish-blue: violet hats.
[ 1300-50; ME violete, equiv. to viole ( viola violet) + -ete -ET ]