Definition of "peony"

The root of the Male Peony fresh gathered has been found by experience to cure the falling-sickness.

1653, Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician Enlarged, Folio Society, published 2007, page 219

'Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed.

1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients

Peony would keep away any kind of storms. Mugwort hung over doorways on Midsummer's Day, June 24, would keep off lightning, as St. John's-Wort would if gathered before sunrise on that day.

1940, Rosetta E. Clarkson, Green Enchantments: The Magic Spell of Gardens, The Macmillan Company, page 258

Mr. Farzan’s narrow backyard in Brooklyn’s South Slope neighborhood is a lush, if slightly chaotic, oasis. There are Fuji apples, Meyer lemons, figs, peonies and avocados — although that’s far from a complete census of all that grows there.

2023 September 29, Molly Fitzpatrick, “He’s the Pawpaw King of Brooklyn. (What’s a Pawpaw?)”, in The New York Times‎

She was a fine and handsome girl - not handsomer than some others, possibly - but her mobile peony mouth and large innocent eyes added eloquence to colour and shape.

1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 18