[f. L. flōre-us, f. flōr-, flōs flower + -AL.] † a. = FLORAL 1 (obs.). b. = FLORAL 2.
1602. Segar, Hon. Mil. & Civ., IV. iii. 213. The first vse of wearing Crownes was in Tragedies and gladiatory combats, at which time they were made of boughes and trees, afterwards they were composed of flowers of diuers colours, in the Playes Floreall, and in the Pastoral Comedies also, and by imitation of them, others were framed of slender barres of tinne, or some other mettall guilded: so as in processe of time many kinds of Crownes were inuented and much esteemed, chiefly among the Romanes, and in the time of Consuls.
1852. Fraser’s Mag., XLV. May, 501–2. Ancient and universal has been the floreal homage paid to the floreal queen, among the rude and the polished, the sons of the north and the dwellers beneath sunny skies.
