ˈbox-tree
[OE. boxtreow, f. box n.1 + treow tree.]
a. The Box, Buxus sempervirens and other species; = box n.1 1.
| c 1000 ælfric Gram. vii. 20 Hæc buxus, þis boxtreow. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 444 Lik was he to byholde The box-tree, or the asschen deed and colde. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 46 Box tre, buxus. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. ii. v. 18 Get ye all three into the box tree. 1852 M{supc}Culloch Dict. Comm. s.v. Boxwood, In 1815, the box trees cut down on Box-hill..produced upwards of 10,000l. |
b. Applied to many Australasian species of Eucalyptus. Cf. box n.1 3 c.
| 1827 Hellyer in Bischoff Van Diemen's Land (1832) 168, I found the stump of a withered box tree. 1849 C. Sturt Narr. Exped. Central Australia I. 116 The flats of the Darling..are..lightly wooded, having low and useless box-trees (the Gobero of Sir Thomas Mitchell), growing on them. a 1882 Kendall Poems (1886) 19 Keen, fitful gusts,..Fleet down by whistling box-tree butt. 1940 A. W. Upfield Bushranger of Skies xx. 193 I've put in half a handful of box-tree seeds. They'll act like a double dose of painkiller. |