ˈbeam-tree
[Improper shortening of white-beam (tree), so called from the white under-surface of its leaves, which strikingly characterize it in a wind.]
A tree (Pyrus Aria) related to the Apple, Pear, and Wild Service, bearing flat corymbs of flowers, succeeded by rich scarlet berries.
| 1800 Sir J. Smith Eng. Flora (1828) II. 366 Pyrus Aria, White Beam-tree, White Wild Pear-tree. 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 84 The timber of the Beam-tree is invaluable for axletrees. 1879 Prior Plant-n. 16 Without the White prefixed..Beam-tree is a silly pleonasm, a tree-tree. |