[f. L. flōr-, flōs flower + -IST. Cf. Fr. fleuriste, It. fiorista.] One who cultivates flowers; one skilled in knowledge of flowering plants; also, one who raises flowers for sale, or who deals in flowers.
1623. Sir H. Wotton, in Reliq. Wotton., 407. It hath given me acquaintance with some excellent Florists (as they are stiled).
1678. H. Vaughan, Thalia Rediv., To his Books, 47.
| But you were all choice Flow’rs, all set and drest | |
| By old, sage florists, who well knew the best. |
1718. Freethinker, No. 11, 28 April, ¶ 7. She will watch her Face as diligently, as a Florist does a Bed of Flowers in the Spring.
1808. Pike, Sources Mississ., iii. 210. This father was a great naturalist, or rather florist: he had large collections of flowers, plants, &c.
1871. Earle, Philol. Eng. Tongue, § 251. The symbolics in Latin are strikingly different from those in Greek. They differ as the flowers of the florist differ from those of nature.
