n. A plant of the genus Tulipa, of which several species are well-known garden bulbs with highly colored bell-shaped flowers, blooming in spring.n. In ordnance, a bell-shaped outward swell of the muzzle of a gun, as a rule abandoned in modern ordnance.n. A liliaceous plant, Bæometra columellaris (Tulipa Breyniana) of the Cape of Good Hope.n. In California, same as butterfly-tulip: see above.