abloom

From a- (“in”) +‎ bloom (“flower”).

• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈbluːm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːm

abloom (not comparable)

1. (postpositive) In or into bloom; in a blooming state; having flower blooms unfolding. [Mid 19^th century.]^[1]

abloom (comparative more abloom, superlative most abloom)

1. Blooming; covered in flowers. [Mid 19^th century.]^[1]
   • 1928, Virginia Woolf, chapter 4, in Orlando: A Biography, London: The Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished as Orlando: A Biography (eBook no. 0200331h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, July 2015:

     […] on summer nights when the tulips were abloom and the bees buzzing […]

   • 1934 April 17, George Herriman, Krazy Kat, Tuesday, comic strip, →ISBN, page 112:

     [Krazy Kat:] How can you tell spring is here, Offissa Pupp? / [Officer Pupp:] By the flower abloom in yon pot.

2. (figuratively) Having something growing or grown.
   • 1900 January, Gregory Hartswick, “[Untitled]”, in St. Nicholas (magazine)‎^[1], volume 27, number 3, page 274:

     For Santa Claus comes / With reindeer and sleigh / To fill up the stockings on glad Christmas Day. / And there in the library / Stands a great tree / With gifts all abloom, most lovely to see!

   • 1902, Hamilton Wright Mabie, Under the Trees‎^[2], page 62:

     Who does not feel the passage of divine dreams over his troubled life when the infinite meadows of heaven are suddenly abloom with light?

   • 1998, Tom Wolfe, chapter 15, in A Man in Full:

     He was abloom with heat and anxiety. The sweat underneath his arms had turned into an oily slick.

3. Thriving in health, beauty, and vigor; exhibiting youth-like beauty.
   • 1987, Merrill J. Mattes, The Great Platte River Road, page 70:

     The Hollywood concept of clean-shaven, square-jawed young men and fragrant young ladies with cheeks abloom does not seem to square with the facts.

   • 1997, Ruth Langan, chapter 1, in Jade:

     When they returned, Jade's cheeks were abloom, her eyes alight with anticipation.

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