ˈpear-tree
Forms: see pear n. and tree.
1. The tree which produces pears: see pear n. 2.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 37 Of gode pertre coms god peres. 1469 Bury Wills (Camden) 46 The frute of the seid pertre and of an appultre. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Mar. 111 Crowes..That in our Peeretree haunted. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 214 He knew..For Fruit the grafted Pear-tree to dispose. 1866 Treas. Bot. 945 The Common Pear-tree, Pyrus communis... The branches are thorny... Under cultivation the thorns disappear. |
2. The wood of this tree; pear-wood.
| 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. ii. xvi. 92 Smooth dry Box Wood or Pear-tree. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 134 Pieces of pear-tree or box. |
3. attrib. and Comb.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. iii. 701 The pertre plaunte is sette in places colde. 1633 T. James Voy. Q, Old seasoned Peare⁓tree-wood. |