Random Image

You are here: Random Image > Words beginning with w > Random Image for wardens

Possible definitions for wardens

Waldenses
Members of a Christian movement that originated in 12th-cent. France. Devotees sought to follow the example of Jesus by living in poverty and simplicity. The movement's reputed founder, P. Waldo, was eventually condemned by the archbishop of Lyon for his use of a non-Latin Bible and other unorthodox activities. After being placed under ban by Pope Lucius III (1184), Waldo and his followers departed from Roman Catholicism by rejecting such concepts as purgatory and the veneration of the saints. Rome responded with active persecution and execution of Waldenses, and their numbers diminished by the end of the 15th cent. In the 16th cent. they adopted the church organization of Genevan Protestantism. Intermittently persecuted, they have remained a small movement within Christianity, surviving today in Argentina, Uruguay, and the U.S.


garden
Plot of ground where herbs, fruits, flowers, vegetables, or trees are cultivated. The earliest surviving detailed garden plan is Egyptian and dates from about 1400 BC; it shows tree-lined avenues and rectangular ponds. Mesopotamian gardens were places where shade and cool water could be enjoyed; Hellenistic gardens were conspicuously luxurious in their display of precious materials, a tradition carried over by Byzantine gardens. Islamic gardens made use of water, often in pools and fed by narrow canals resembling irrigation channels. In Renaissance Europe, gardens reflected confidence in human ability to impose order on the external world; Italian gardens emphasized the unity of house and garden. French 17th-cent. gardens were rigidly symmetrical, and French cultural dominance in Europe popularized this style into the next century. In 18th-cent. England, increasing awareness of the natural world led to the development of "natural" gardens that made use of irregular, nonsymmetrical layouts. Chinese gardens have generally harmonized with the natural landscape, and have employed rocks gathered from great distances as a universal decorative feature. Early Japanese gardens imitated Chinese principles; later developments were the abstract garden, which might feature only sand and rocks, and miniature gardens made in trays (see bonsai).


gardenia
Any of the approximately 200 species of ornamental shrubs and trees in the genus Gardenia, in the madder family, native to tropical and subtropical Africa and Asia. Gardenias have white or yellow tubular flowers, evergreen leaves, and large, berrylike fruits containing a sticky, orange pulp. Cape jasmine (G. jasminoides), native to China, is the fragrant species sold by florists.


gardening
Laying out and tending of a garden. Though palatial gardens existed in ancient times, small home gardens became prevalent only in the 19th cent. Gardening as a pastime grew with the increase in home ownership and leisure time. A well-designed flower garden displays blends and contrasts of colors and forms, and ...

Top words beginning with W: walleyes, wolber, wait, wapner, wagahai, wheatears, waxberry, westwardmost, westernize, whuttering, whitewalls, wifehoods, waitpid, wallflowers, woodpiles, whales, waxbills, wega, whys, whole

More words beginning with W.

Browse the alphabet: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z