painted lady

▸ noun

(plural painted ladies)

1 a migratory butterfly with predominantly orange-brown wings and darker markings.

Genus Cynthia, subfamily Nymphalinae, family Nymphalidae: the widely distributed C. cardui, with black-and-white markings, and the American painted lady (C. virginiensis), with markings resembling eyes on the undersides of the wings.

2 South African English a gladiolus:

the painted ladies have white or pink trumpet-shaped flowers..

3 (in the US, especially San Francisco) a house from the late 19th or early 20th century whose exterior is decorated with three or more colours of paint highlighting its ornate architectural features.