Also 7 tuberuse, -euse, (tuber-rose). [ad. L. tūberōsa, the specific name of the plant (see below), fem. of tūberōsus (see next); corrupted by popular etymology into a disyllable, as if f. tube + rose, and so most commonly pronounced. (In the obs. forms tuberuse, -euse, a. F. tubéreuse, ad. L. tūberōsa.)] A liliaceous plant, Polianthes tuberosa, with creamy white, funnel-shaped, very fragrant flowers, and a tuberous root; a native of the East Indies, cultivated in southern Europe and the southern U.S., and in northern parts as a greenhouse plant.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort., 200. Now take out your Indian Tuberoses, parting the Off-sets. Ibid., 208. Tuber-rose.
1691. Lond. Gaz., No. 2654/4. There are lately brought from Italy several Orange and Limon Trees,… Onions of Tubereuse.
a. 1718. Prior, Solomon, I. 80. The smelling Tub’rose and Junquele declare, The stronger Impulse of an Evening Air.
a. 1763. Shenstone, Ode to Sir R. Lyttelton, xiii. So would some tuberose delight, That struck the pilgrim’s wondering sight.
1820. Shelley, Sensit. Plant, I. x. The jessamine faint, and the sweet tuberose.
1873. Mrs. H. King, Disciples, Ugo Bassi, II. (1877), 66. In the cool shadow heaps of tuberose Lay by the fountains in the market-place.
b. A perfume extracted from the flowers of this.
1682. Mrs. Behn, City Heiress, 22. Sprinkle my Handkercher with Tuberuse.
1867. Aug. J. E. Wilson, Vashti, xix. Stooping to pick it [a handkerchief] up, he inhaled the delicate, tenacious perfume of tube-rose.
