Shām'rock, n.

n. [Ir. seamrog, seamar, trefoil, white clover, white honeysuckle, Gael. seamrag, saimir.] (Bot.) A plant of the genus Trifolium (T. repens), used by the Irish as their national emblem; white trefoil; white clover.

☞ The name shamrock is supposed to have been originally applied to a plant of the genus Oxalis (the O. acetosella, or wood-sorrel), which also has trifoliate leaves.

☞ When St. Patrick first preached the Christian faith in Ireland, before a powerful chief and his people, when he spoke of one God, and of the Trinity, the chief asked how one could be in three. St. Patrick, instead of attempting a theological definition of the faith, thought a simple image would best serve to enlighten a simple people, and, stooping to the earth, he plucked from the green sod a shamrock, and holding up the trefoil before them, he bid them there behold one in three. The chief, struck by the illustration, asked at once to be baptized, and all his sept followed his example. Lover.