Thistle

noun
1.
any of various prickly, composite plants having showy, purple flower heads, especially of the genera Cirsium, Carduus, or Onopordum.
2.
any of various other prickly plants.
noun
1.
any of numerous plants of the genera Cirsium,Carduus, and related genera, having prickly-edged leaves, pink, purple, yellow, or white dense flower heads, and feathery hairs on the seeds: family Asteraceae (composites)
2.
a thistle, or a representation of one, as the national emblem of Scotland
noun the Thistle
1.
See Order of the Thistle
2.
(sometimes not capital)

the emblem of this Order
membership of this Order

(1.) Heb. hoah (2 Kings 14:9; Job 31:40). In Job 41:2 the Hebrew word is rendered “thorn,” but in the Revised Version “hook.” It is also rendered “thorn” in 2 Chr. 33:11; Prov. 26:9; Cant. 2:2; “brambles” in Isa. 34:13. It is supposed to be a variety of the wild plum-tree, but by some it is regarded as the common thistle, of which there are many varieties in Palestine. (2.) Heb. dardar, meaning “a plant growing luxuriantly” (Gen. 3:18; Hos. 10:8); Gr. tribolos, “a triple point” (Matt. 7:16; Heb. 6:8, “brier,” R.V. “thistle”). This was probably the star-thistle, called by botanists Centaurea calcitropa, or “caltrops,” a weed common in corn-fields. (See THORNS.)