▪ I. tree, n.
(triː)
Forms: see below.
[OE. tréow, tr{iacu}ow, OE., ME. tréo, etc. = OFris. trê (NFris. trê, træ̂), OS. trio, treo, trew- (MDu. in comb. -tere, -tære, Kilian); ON. tré (Da. træ, Sw. trä timber, träd tree); Goth. triu, gen. triw-is wood (wanting in OHG. and now also obsolete in LG. and Du.):—OTeut. *trewo-, cognate with Skr. dru tree, wood, ˈdāru wood, log, and with Gr. δρῦς oak, δόρυ spear; OSlav. drievo (from dervo) tree, wood, drŭva pl. wood, Russ. ˈderevo, dreˈvo tree, wood, Serb. drvo tree, drva wood, Czech drva, Pol. drwa wood; Lith. dervà pine-wood; also with OIr. daur, Welsh derwen oak. The modern Eng. tree is a regular repr. of OE. tréo, ME. treo; trē is the form in the Bestiary of c 1220; but the final prevalence of this over the other ME. forms treow, trew, trow, trau, was prob. assisted by its coincidence with Norse tré; trē, tree are the northern forms from Cursor Mundi onward. For form-history cf. knee.]
A. Illustration of Forms and Inflexions.
1. sing. nom. 1 triow, (late) tryw, 1–2 treow, treu, (1) 3 trew, (1)–4 treo, 3–6 tre, 3– tree; 4 (Kent. trau, tra(u)w); trough; 5 Sc. trey, 6–7 trie. dat. 1 treowe, tréo, 2 treuwe, trewe, 4 trow(e, trauwe. [The development of OE. nom. acc. sing. was OTeut. *trewo{supm}, trewa, trew, tréu, tréo, then with w from oblique cases (trewes, treowes, etc.), tréow, (triow).]
| c 890 tr. Bæda's Hist. ii. xi. [xiv.] (1890) 138 He..of treo [v.r. treowe] cirican ᵹetimbrode. c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xlv. 338 ælc triow [v.r. treow] man sceal ceorfan. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. iii. 10 ælc treow [MS. B. tryw, Lind. treu] þe godne wæstm ne bringð. c 1200 Vices & Virt. 27 Ðe treu of paradise. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 107 Of coren of eorðe, and of treuwe. c 1220 Bestiary 674 Ðus fel adam ðurȝ a tre, Vre firste fader, ðat fele we. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3301 A funden trew ðor-inne dede Moyses. a 1300 Cursor M. 657 (Cott.) Þis tree ys done in my friþe. 1340 Ayenb. 28 Ne in gerse, ne in busse, ne in trauwe. Ibid. 95 Þet trau of lyue. Ibid. 202 Þys traw wext and profiteþ. 13.. K. Alis. 6829 Alle tho That scholde with him to the trough go. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xxi. 200 Yf þei touchede þe treo and of þe frut eten. c 1530 R. Hilles Common-Pl. Bk. (1858) 140 Sone crokyth the tre that crokyed wyll be. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) II. 687 With the speir that wes of suir trie, He hit the king richt in at the e. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 109 Let Iuie be killed, Else trée will be spilled. a 1584 Montgomerie Ch. & Slae 341 The trie sa hich of growth. |
2. pl. nom. α1
trēo,
treow,
triowu,
treowu,
-a, 1–2
treowe; 2
trowen, 2–4
treon, 3–6
trēn, 4 (
troen),
trene, 4–7 (-9
dial.)
treen, 5
trenne, 5–6
treene. β2
treos, 2–3 (
Orm.)
trewwes, 2, 4
trewes, 2–5
tres, 3
troues, 3–4
trouwes, 3–5
treus, 4
trews,
trowes,
traues,
trawes, 4–6
treis, 5
trese, 6
treys,
Sc. treyis, 6–7
tries, 4–
trees. [The development of
OE. nom. acc. pl. was
WGer. trewu,
tréu,
tréo; then again with
w (from oblique cases),
tréow,
treowu (
-a). The
pl. tréo occurs in Vesp.
Ps. and Lind.
Gosp.]
| c 825 Vesp. Ps. cxlviii. 9 Treo westemberu and alle cederbeamas. c 890 tr. Bæda's Hist. i. (1890) 26 Hit is weliᵹ þis ealond on wæstmum & on treowum. c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xl. 292 Sumu treowu he watrade. a 1000 Epist. Alex. ad Aristot. in Cockayne Narrat. 27 Eac þær wæron oþre treow. Ibid. 28 Ða halᵹan triow-swiðe wepen. c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 588 Deorwurðe stanas, oþþe treowa. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 5 Heo stiȝen uppe on þe godes cunnes treowe. Ibid. 41 He him sceawede heȝe treon. c 1200 Ormin Introd. 13 Full gode treos inoȝhe. Ibid. 15468 Off gresess, & off tres. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 25 Gres and trowen. Ibid. 37 Hwile uppen trewes. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3305 Then [i.e. ten] and sexti palme tren. c 1275 Lay. 511 Alle hi solde hongie vppe heȝe troues. a 1300 Cursor M. 545 (Cott.) It groues tres [Fairf. trees] and gress. 13.. Ibid. 651 (Gött.) Of treis..here es gode wone. ? a 1300 XI Pains of Hell 33 Þer beoþ bernynde treon. a 1325 MS. Rawl. B. 520 lf. 32 b, Þis statut ne portenez noȝt to grete hokes ne to oþere grete troen. a 1325 Prose Psalter xcv[i]. 12 Þan shul alle þe trews of þe wodes gladen. 13.. K. Alis. 6763 Þou shalt fynde trowes two. 1340 Ayenb. 25 Þe greatte traues. Ibid. 95 Uol of guode trawes. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 445 Where þou knowe nouȝt þe treen [v.r. tren]. a 1400 Pistill of Susan 90 Turtils troned on trene. c 1400 Trees [see B. 1]. c 1400 Ywaine & Gaw. 2965 He loked in bitwix the trese. 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 239 With lewys of trenne. Ibid. 243 The humours of tren and herbis. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 17 Twoo grene treene there grewe uprighte. a 1450 Myrc Festial i. 3 Treus and herbys. 1562–3 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) II. 568, x greate tries at xxviijs the trie. 1563 Mirr. Mag. Induct. 2 With blustring blastes had al ybared the treen. 1565 Satir. Poems Reform. i. 45 Wynter windes..that doth I-bayre the tren. 1570 Ibid. xv. 50 All greinis and plesand treis [rime eyis]. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. vii. (S.T.S.) II. 17 Aple tries, and orchardis. 1600 Fairfax Tasso iii. lxxv, The shadie tops of shaking treene. 1635, 1771, 1861 Trees [see B. 1]. 1843 E. Jones Poems, Sens. & Event 38 Vast interbranching treen. |
B. Signification.
1. a. A perennial plant having a self-supporting woody main stem or
trunk (which usually develops woody branches at some distance from the ground), and growing to a considerable height and size. (Usually distinguished from a
bush or
shrub by size and manner of growth; but
cf. b.)
| c 825, c 890, c 897 [see A. 2]. c 1000 ælfric Gen. iii. 6 Þæt treow wæs god to etanne. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 109 Iliche þan treo þe bereð lef and blosman. c 1290 St. Brendan 41 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 221 Of treon and herbes, þikke i-novȝ. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 327 A forest..ful of faire trees. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. i. (Tollem. MS.), A tre haþ..þe rynde, bowes, twigges, leues, blosmes, floures and frute. c 1400 Destr. Troy 12467 Trees thurgh tempestes tynde hade þere leues. 1481 Caxton Reynard xii. (Arb.) 28 He brake a rodde of a tree. c 1530 R. Hilles Common-Pl. Bk. (1858) 140 Hyt ys a febyll tre thet fallyth at the fyrst strok. 1600 Fairfax Tasso vii. i, Through forrests thicke among the shadie treene. 1635 Laud Diary 1 Dec., Many elm leaves yet upon the trees. 1771 Junius Lett. lvii. (1820) 298 He or his deputy were authorised to cut down..trees. 1861 Bentley Man. Bot. 540 Cunoniaceæ... Nearly allied to Saxifragaceæ, but differing from them in being trees or shrubs. |
b. Extended to include bushes or shrubs of erect growth and having a single stem; and even some perennial herbaceous plants which grow to a great height, as the banana and plantain.
| c 1340– [see rose-tree]. c 1532 [see gooseberry 7]. 1640 [see plantain3 4]. 1649 [see currant 4]. 1697 [see banana 1]. 1765 [see raspberry 6]. 1855 Browning Women & Roses i, I dream of a red-rose tree. 1858 Hogg Veg. Kingd. 790 As a food, the Plantain is wholesome and agreeable. A tree generally contains three or four clusters. |
c. Applied
fig. or allusively to a person.
| 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iii. vii. 167 The Royall Tree hath left vs Royall Fruit. 1807 Wordsw. Force of Prayer xiii, He was a tree that stood alone, And proudly did its branches wave. |
d. = Christmas-tree.
| [1838 H. Martineau Retrospect III. 182, I was present at the introduction into the new country of..the German Christmas-tree... The tree was the top of a young fir, planted in a tub.] 1851 E. Ruskin Let. 28 Dec. in M. Lutyens Effie in Venice (1965) ii. 236 They wanted me to come in the evening when the tree was lighted to see the presents all divided. 1945 N. Mitford Pursuit of Love iii. 23 We got back late for the tree... Uncle Matthew..was struggling into his Father Christmas clothes! 1979 M. McCarthy Cannibals & Missionaries i. 19 Distribution of presents..and the darned crèche and parish-house tree to set up. |
2. The substance of the trunk and boughs of a tree; wood (
esp. as a material of which things are made); timber.
Obs. or
arch. to go between the bark and the tree: see
bark n.1 6.
| c 890 tr. Bæda's Hist. ii. xi. [xiv.] (1890) 138 He þær hræde ᵹeweorce of treo cirican ᵹetimbrode. c 1122 O.E. Chron. an. 626 (Laud MS.) Þær he ær het ᵹetimbrian cyrican of treowe. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 91/154 In one cheste of treo. ? c 1366 in Arnolde Chron. (1811) 138 Affixed w{supt} nayles of irne or of tree. c 1440 Partonope 407 A brygge of stone and not of tree. c 1500 Whole Prophecie of Scotland 1603 (in Murray Thomas of Erceldoune Introd. p. xxxv), At Aberladie he shall light With hempen halters and hors of tree. 1531 Elyot Gov. iii. xvii, Eatyng his meate in a disshe of tree. 1638 Junius Paint. Ancients 124 A horse made of maple tree. 1896 Kipling Seven Seas, Sea-Wife iv, To ride the horse of tree [a ship]. |
3. A piece of wood; a stem or branch of a tree, or a portion of one, either in its natural state, or more usually (now always) shaped for some purpose.
a. A pole, post, stake, beam, wooden bar, etc.;
esp. (now only) one forming part of some structure, as a vehicle, plough, ship, etc.; usually as the second element in combinations, as
axle-tree,
chess-tree,
cross-tree,
door-tree,
draught-tree,
roof-tree, swingle-tree, etc.
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 187 Ond þa æfter þon het Neron ᵹewyrcean mycelne tor of treowum & of mycclum beamum. c 1200 Ormin 15835 Þatt temmple þatt wass wrohht Off trewwess & off staness. a 1300 Cursor M. 12399 (Cott.) Þe knaue þat þis timber fett..ouer scort he broght a tre. 1375 Barbour Bruce xiii. 238 Schetis..Thai festnyt in steid of baneris Apon lang treis and on speris. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §3 The ploughe-beame is the longe tree aboue. Ibid. §4 The sharbeame is the tre vnderneth, wherevpon the share is set. 1642 in J. Watson Jedburgh Abbey (1894) 85 Thrie scoir singill tries, threttie double tries, two hundred daills to be scaffolding and centtries. 1787 MS. Deed, Such trees and pipes as are now laid for conveying water from the said spring. 1848 Kingsley Night Bird 4 All night I heard a singing bird Upon the topmast tree. 1887 Suppl. to Jamieson s.v., A straight piece of rough timber used as a pole, lever, prop, or stay, is called a tree; as, a dyer's-tree, a raising-tree or lever for moving a mill-stone. |
b. A stick,
esp. a staff, cudgel:
cf. plant n.1 1 b.
Obs. exc. Sc.| c 893 K. ælfred Oros. iv. i. §6 Hie namon treowu, & sloᵹon on oþerne ende moniᵹe scearpe isene næᵹlas. c 1205 Lay. 25978 His fur he beten agon & muchele treowen læide on. a 1225 Ancr. R. 402 ‘Louerd’, cweð heo to Elie,..‘lo! ich geder two treon’. 14.. Emaré 365 She was wax lene as a tre. c 1470 Henry Wallace ii. 97 A huntyn staff in till his hand he bar; Thar with he smat on Willȝham Wallace thair. Bot for his tre litill sonȝhe he maid. 1588 Reg. Privy Council Scot. Ser. i. IV. 270 The said Robert Lekky..maliciouslie straik and dang thame with rungis and treis. c 1680 Songs of Scotl. (1893) 43, I am a puir silly auld man, And hirplin' ower a tree. 17.. Gude Wallace x. in Aytoun Ballads Scot. (1858) I. 56 He's gane to the West-muir wood, And there he pull'd a trusty tree. |
4. a. The cross on which Christ was crucified, the holy rood.
arch. and
poet.| a 1000 Rood 25 (Gr.) Hwæðre ic..beheold hreowceariᵹ hælendes treow. c 1275 On Serving Christ 30 in O.E. Misc. 91 As he for monkunnes neodes don wes on þe treo. 1382 Wyclif Acts v. 30 The God of oure fadris reyside Jhesu, whom ȝe slowen, hangynge in a tree [Tindale, and hanged on tree]. ― 1 Pet. ii. 24 He..suffride, [gloss] or bar, oure synnes in his body on the tree. 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. (Rolls) 106 A nayle, with whech oure Lord was nayled to the tre. 1596 R. Cotton Armor of Proofe xiv, Christ,..who did our sinnes and foes to tree fast binde. 1635 E. Pagitt Christianogr. iii. (1636) 52 Helena the Empresse found the Crosse, and adored the King, but not the Tree. 1707 Watts Hymn, ‘Alas! and did my Saviour bleed?’ iii, Was it for crimes that I had done He groan'd upon the tree? 1820 T. Kelly Hymn, ‘We sing the praise of Him who died’ ii, He bears our sins upon the tree. |
b. A gallows. Also
† dry tree,
Tyburn tree.
| c 1425 Cast. Persev. 177 in Macro Plays 82 Pyncecras, Parys, & longe Pygmayne, And euery toun in Trage, euyn to þe dreye tre. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xvii. 28 Sum..nevir fra taking can hald thair hand, Quhill he be tit vp to ane tre. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon xviii. 49 Not lettynge for fere of any deth, though it be to go to the dry tre. 1535 Coverdale Esther vi. 4 To hange Mardocheus on ye tre y{supt} he had prepared for him. 1609 B. Jonson Masque of Queens ad init., From the dungeon, from the tree That they die on, here are we [witches]! a 1704 T. Brown Satire on Quack Wks. 1730 I. 62 Though it was thy luck to cheat the fatal tree. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. iv, The area of the Grassmarket..in the centre of which arose the fatal tree, tall, black, and ominous, from which dangled the deadly halter. 1847 Kingsley Outlaw x, And when I'm taen and hangit,..ye'll steal me frae the tree. |
5. a. The wooden shaft of a spear, handle of an implement, etc.; hence, a spear, lance (in
phr. to break a tree). Now
dial.| ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 948 Ten brode arowis hilde he there,..But iren was ther noon ne stelle, For al was golde,..Outake the fetheres & the tree. c 1400 Laud Troy-Bk. 12697 He was wounded with a spere..Hede & tre lefft bothe In him. a 1600 Montgomerie Misc. Poems xlix. 24 We dout not bot they [thy knights] dar..be bold to brek a tre. 1611 Cotgr., Abrier d'Arbeleste, the tree of a Crossebow. 1765 Museum Rust. III. 240 The person should have a spade..about four inches broad, and eighteen inches long in the bit,..with a tree in it of three feet six inches long. 1881 Leicester Gloss., Tree, a wooden handle or stail. |
† b. A wooden structure; applied
poet. or
rhet. to a ship; in
quot. 1513 to the wooden horse at the siege of Troy.
Obs.| 1382 Wyclif Wisd. xiv. 1 Another thenkende to seilen,..the tree berende hym. 1513 Douglas æneis ii. i. 60 In this tree ar Grekis closit. 1535 Coverdale Wisd. x. 4 Whan y⊇ water destroyed y⊇ whole worlde, wyszdome preserued the righteous thorow a poore tre. 1594 Marlowe & Nashe Dido iv. iv, Here's Aeneas' tackling, oars, and sails... Oh, cursed tree, hadst thou but wit or sense, To measure how I prize Aeneas' love. |
c. A wooden vessel; barrel, cask, ‘the wood’.
Sc.| 1513 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. IV. 487 Item to hir in aile, full to seywart xxiiij last and a barrell,..ilk barrell contenand xij gallonis, price of the galloune xx d; summa of the last with the tree..xiij li. viij s. 1532 Ibid. VI. 156, xij ½ barrellis of aill, ilk barrell contenand v gallonis... Item, for xij treis to put the samyn intill, for ilk tree xviij d. 1656 Tucker Rep. Revenues Scot. (Bann. Cl.) 10 The Scots use noe certaine vessells, but such as by a generall terme they call Trees,..some holding more or lesse gallons the tree. a 1814 Ramsay Scotl. & Scotsmen in 18th C. viii. (1888) II. 78 The scourging a nine-gallon tree..consisted in drawing the spigot of a barrel of ale, and never quitting it..till it was drunk out. |
d. The framework of a saddle:
= saddle-tree,
q.v. for earlier
quots.| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) III. 300 Ane hors he fand..Without saidill, curpall, tre, or brydill. 1591 Greene Art Conny Catch. ii. (1592) 5 His sadle is made without any tree. 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 314 Saddles of the better sort are usually of Velvet;..the trees are curiously painted. 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1756) I. 328 If the Saddle be too narrow in the Tree. 1862 Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit. II. No. 4721 Elliptical spring-seat saddle, and tree showing action of spring. |
e. A block upon which a boot is shaped or stretched:
= boot-tree (
boot n.3 8).
| 1541 Knaresborough Wills (Surtees) I. 35, ij paire of boytte treys. 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden 17 Rayse thy conceipt on the trees, or..new corke it at the heeles, before it should thus walke bare-foote. 1766 [see boot-tree s.v. boot n.3 8]. 1839 Thackeray Fatal Boots Nov., As I was polishing on the trees a pair of boots. 1891 Kipling Light that Failed viii, As Dick..busied himself among the former's boots and trees. |
6. Something resembling a tree with its branches.
a. A diagram or table of a family, indicating its original ancestor as the root, and the various branches of descendants; in full,
family tree or
genealogical tree . Also
fig. a family, race, stock. (
b)
Porphyrian tree (
Logic): see
Porphyrian.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7255 Þo smot uerst þis tre aȝen to is kunde more [i.e. natural root]. a 1300 Cursor M. 1625 (Cott.) Bot first a tre,..I sal sette hire [v.r. here] of adam kin. 1693 Stepney in Dryden's Juvenal viii. 11 Vain are their Hopes, who fancy to inherit By Trees of Pedigrees, or Fame, or Merit. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) V. 305 Two genealogic trees. 1825 T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Doubts & F. v, A more honourable tree does not flourish in the archives of heraldry than ours. 1858 M. Arnold Merope 865 So dies the last shoot of our royal tree! |
b. Any structure or figure, natural or artificial, of branched form.
spec. (
a) (
tr. arbor in
med.L. phrases). An arborescent mass of crystals forming from a solution, as of silver (Diana's
tree), of lead (Saturn's
tree), etc. (
b) Applied to the spinal nervous system, consisting of the spinal cord and the nerves branching out from it. More widely, any branching system of vessels or organs in the body. (
c) A branched respiratory organ in Holothurians. (
d) A worked design of tree-like form. (
e)
Math. A figure or diagram consisting of branching lines; (also in
Linguistics, etc.) a set of items that can be represented by such a diagram. (
f)
Oil Industry (see
quot. 1954);
cf. Christmas-tree 2,
quot. 1930.
| 1706– [see Diana 2]. 1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xxx. 396 A certain portion of the extreme branches of the nervous tree. 1844 Lead-tree [see lead n.1 12]. 1857 Cayley Math. Papers (1890) III. 242 On the Theory of the analytical Forms called Trees. 1865–8 Watts Dict. Chem. III. 478 By the electro-chemical action of zinc in a solution of acetate of lead, it is deposited in an arborescent form, known under the name of Saturn's Tree. 1870 Rolleston Anim. Life Introd. 145 In the Holothurioidea these coeca take a great development, and are known as the ‘lungs’ or ‘respiratory trees’. Ibid. 149 The left respiratory tree. 1879 Unif. Reg. in Navy List July (1882) 497/1 Tree of trimming braid at top of back. 1881, etc. [see root n.1 14 c]. 1930 T. S. Eliot tr. St.-J. Perse's Anabasis 59 You shall see me for long time unspeaking under the female tree of my veins. 1952 [see cavitation 2]. 1954 Time 11 Jan. 3/2 (Advt.), These trees of steel, with their long metal roots extending thousands of feet into the earth, are actually assemblies of valves and fittings which control the flow of oil from reservoirs. Oilmen call them ‘trees’ or ‘Christmas trees’ because of the many unusual patterns and designs obtained when this wellhead equipment is put together to control wells of various kinds, varying pressures, and unique producing characteristics. 1958 W. H. Burge in Information & Control I. 183 The tree used is a hierarchical network with a finite number of points arranged in levels. 1959 Nuovo Cimento Suppl. XIII. 499 The restriction on the number of symbols that can be rewritten in a single rule guarantees that given a terminal string..it will be possible to discover the associated tree or trees. 1972 Computers & Humanities VII. 5 With the use of a light gun the linguist can select from alternative expansions in phrase structure trees. 1973 C. W. Gear Introd. Computer Sci. vii. 294 If it is necessary to trace through a tree in order frequently, it is worth storing the trace path. 1976 Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics XXI. 129 The psychological reality of aspects of deep structure and surface structure trees is open to interpretation in several respects. 1976 Offshore Engineer Mar. 6/3 Shell Expro is going ahead with subsea completion of a stepout well on the Brent field this summer and will be using one of the most sophisticated underwater trees in the world... The tree is described as ‘wet, diverless’, and flowline connection can be carried out from a rig or a drillship. 1977 Lancet 4 June 1187/1 Angiography has made it possible to assess with reasonable confidence the state of the cerebral vascular tree. 1977 Ibid. 6 Aug. 278/1 After cholecystectomy for gallstones, it is not unusual for a stone to be left behind in the biliary tree. 1978 Nature 24 Aug. 745/1 The amount of work involved in searching a tree of moves is BD, where B (the branching factor) is the average number of alternatives throughout the tree, and D is the depth of search. |
7. a. Phrases.
at the top of the tree, in the highest position: see
top n.1 14.
up a tree (
colloq.,
orig. U.S.), debarred from escape, like a hunted animal driven to take refuge in a tree; entrapped; in an awkward position, in a difficulty or ‘fix’.
money (etc.) does not grow on trees (
orig. U.S.): money (etc.) is not easily obtainable;
out of (one's) tree (
U.S. slang) (see
quot. 1971).
one cannot see the wood for the trees: see
wood n.| 1669 ‘Poor Robin’ Almanack sig. B8, Minc'd Pyes do not grow upon every tree, But search the Ovens for them, and there they be. 1750 W. Chancellor Diary Nov. in Pennsylvania Mag. Hist. & Biogr. (1968) XCII. 471 Africa, where tis so falsly said, that Gold grows on the Trees. 1774 Foote Cozeners i. (1778) 16 Master Moses is an absolute Proteus; in every elegance, at the top of the tree. 1782– [see top n.1 14]. 1787 Amer. Museum II. 383 When the new government is established, ‘money will grow upon the trees’. 1825 J. Neal Bro. Jonathan II. 103 If I didn't—I'm up a tree—that's a fact. 1833 Marryat Peter Simple in Metropolitan Mag. Aug. 302/2 Clothes don't grow upon trees in ould Ireland. 1839 Thackeray Major Gahagan v, I had her in my power—up a tree, as the Americans say. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown i. vii, ‘What a pull’, said he, ‘that it's lie-in-bed, for I shall be as lame as a tree, I think’. 1932 W. McFee Harbourmaster xxi. 371 Can I make money? Does it grow on trees out there? 1964 J. Aiken Black Hearts in Battersea (1965) iv. 51 You'll be wanting it yourself come dinner-time. Sausages don't grow on trees in London. 1966 Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) Fall 6 Tree, n., mind, esp. in the expression ‘drive one out of one's tree.’.. She drives me right out of my tree. 1971 E. E. Landy Underground Dict. 143 Out of one's tree, expression meaning (1) be thinking, talking or acting in an irrational way—e.g. You are talking out of your tree or (2) be in an unfamiliar place. 1976 N. Thornburg Cutter & Bone ii. 45 ‘We is duh [= the] loanees.’ ‘You're out of your tree.’ 1977 ‘S. Woods’ Thief or Two 118, I don't imagine these things [sc. jewels] grow on trees. |
b. Phrases with
of.
tree of Buddha, or
tree of wisdom = bo-tree.
tree of chastity = agnus castus (
Treas. Bot.); also called
chaste-tree (
chaste a. 9).
tree of Diana: see
Diana 2, and
cf. 6 b (
a) above.
tree of heaven = ailanthus.
tree of Jesse: see
Jesse1.
tree of knowledge, (
a) loosely used as
= next; (
b) a figurative or symbolic expression for knowledge in general, comprising all its ‘branches’.
tree of the knowledge of good and evil: see
Gen. ii. 9, etc.
tree of liberty, a tree (or a pole) planted in celebration of a revolution or victory securing liberty (chiefly in reference to the French Revolution); also
fig. tree of life, (
a) a tree symbolic of life or immortality,
esp. that in the narrative of the garden of Eden (
Gen. ii. 9, etc.); also
fig.; (
b) a shrub of the genus
Thuya;
= arbor vitæ 1; (
c)
Anat. = arbor vitæ 2; (
d) a schematized representation of a tree or shrub used as an artistic motif,
esp. in oriental work;
freq. attrib. tree of mercy, in mediæval legend, the allegorical tree which yielded the oil of mercy, and was at length to bear Christ for the healing of mankind.
tree of Paradise, the plantain (
Musa paradisiaca).
tree of Porphyry (
Logic):
= Porphyrian tree.
tree of the universe, the mythical ash-tree or
Yggdrasil of Scandinavian mythology.
tree of wisdom = tree of Buddha.
| c 1820 Philos. Recreat. 131 A curious Chemical Experiment, called the Tree of *Diana. Note, This is the modern silver tree. 1849 [see Diana 2]. 1845 Tree of *heaven [see ailanthus]. 1898 Daily News 31 May 5/3 Some handsome specimens of tropical trees—the tree of heaven and the tulip tree. |
| 1535 Coverdale Gen. ii. 9 The tre of life in the myddest of the garden, and the tre of *knowlege of good and euell. 1848 Lowell Fable for Critics 766 Their backs he salutes With the whole tree of knowledge torn up by the roots. |
| 1765 Universal Mag. XXXVII. 376/2 (Amer.) Known by the name of the Tree of *Liberty ever since the memorable 14th of August. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. i. xii, A Tree of Liberty sixty feet high; and Phrygian Cap on it, of size enormous. 1890 Lecky Hist. Eng. xxvii. VII. 207 Trees of liberty had been planted in Antrim, and bonfires lit in consequence of French victories. |
| 1382 Wyclif Gen. ii. 9 The tree of *lijf in the mydle of paradys. 1599 Davies Immort. Soul xxxi. vii. (1714) 109 But Truth, which is eternal, feeds the Mind; The Tree of Life, which will not let her die. 1712 J. Petiver in Phil. Trans. XXVII. 423 American Tree of Life. 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 317 Tree of Life, Thuya. 1880 G. C. M. Birdwood Industrial Arts India 336 The tree of life represented on modern Yarkand rugs is always a pomegranate tree. 1913 R. C. Maclagan Our Ancestors viii. 121 There was another locality for the Tree of Life. 1931 A. U. Dilley Oriental Rugs & Carpets Pl. 57 (caption) Beluchistan Prayer Rug with Rectangular Niche and Tree of Life. 1960 B. Snook Eng. Historical Embroidery 81 Hangings worked in polychrome,..with flowing stems or a Persian ‘Tree of Life’ rising from a ground of grass-grown mole hills. 1972 Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 28 May 5/2 A most recently finished piece [of weaving] is done in the universal tree-of-life symbol. 1977 Times 25 June 2/3 A Kashan silk Tree of Life rug..made {pstlg}3,000. |
| c 1375 Canticum de Creatione 620 in Horstmann Altengl. Leg. (1878) 132 And to þe tre of *mercy blyf Where out renneþ oyle of lyf His angel wil doun sende. Ibid. 695 To haue mercy on Adam,..And hem senden his angel fro hy To ȝeuen hem of þe tre of mercy Oyle, to helen him wyth. |
| 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 63 The tree of *Paradise saith Cardane, is of short life, for the second yeare his bodie drieth vp and waxeth barraine: It beareth fruit like a cluster of Grapes, but in bignesse of an Apple. |
| 1910 Encycl. Brit. IV. 739/1 The sacred Bo tree or tree of *wisdom. |
8. attrib. or as adj. (in sense 2). Made or formed of ‘tree’, wooden:
= treen a. 1.
Obs. exc. dial.| c 1375 Cursor M. 12389 (Fairf.) Tree [v. rr. treen, trein] beddis coude he make. Ibid. 21048 Of tree wandis golde he wroȝt. 1402–3 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 217, j stane⁓trogh et j tre trogh. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. iv. (1520) 37/1 In olde tyme the consecracyon..was made in tree vessell. 1587–8 Burgh Rec. Edinb. (1882) IV. 515 To caus mak ane pair of trey buits. 1599 Lanc. Wills (Chetham Soc.) III. 10 All other tree vessell whatsoever. 1640 R. Baillie Canterb. Self-Convict. 77 Their very tree-shoone. 1750 in Cloud of Witnesses (1778) App. 361 A cripple with a tree leg. 1881 Leicester Gloss. s.v., A ‘tree leg’ is a wooden leg. |
9. attrib. and
Comb. a. General
attrib. (
= ‘of a tree or trees’), as
tree-avenue,
tree-bark,
tree-belt,
tree-bole,
tree-bough,
tree-branch,
tree-crop,
tree-foliage,
tree-foot,
tree-fork,
tree-fruit,
tree-group,
tree-growth,
tree-life,
tree-lore,
tree-nursery,
tree-root,
tree-seed,
tree-shadow,
tree-soul,
tree-stem,
tree-stump,
tree-trunk,
tree-twig, etc.
b. Objective and
obj. gen., as
tree-enchanter,
tree-fancier,
tree-feller,
tree-lopper,
tree-planter;
tree-boring,
tree-chopping,
tree-climbing,
tree-daubing,
tree-felling,
tree-growing,
tree-haunting,
tree-inhabiting,
tree-lopping,
tree-loving,
tree-planting,
tree-shadowing,
tree-smearing ns. and
adjs. c. Instrumental, as
tree-arched,
tree-bordered,
tree-bound,
tree-clad,
tree-covered,
tree-crowned,
tree-dotted,
tree-fringed,
tree-garnished,
tree-girt,
tree-grown,
tree-hung,
tree-lined,
tree-planted,
tree-scattered,
tree-screened,
tree-set,
tree-shaded,
tree-shadowed,
tree-skirted,
tree-surrounded,
tree-tangled,
tree-wrapt, etc.
adjs. d. Locative, as
tree-dweller;
tree-dwelling,
tree-feeding,
tree-living.
e. Similative, etc., as
tree-great,
tree-like adjs.| c 1857 J. R. Lowell Power of Sound in Uncoll. Poems (1950) 123 A parson's son, through *tree-arched country ways, I rode. 1936 W. Faulkner Absalom, Absalom! ix. 365 They walked up the rutted tree-arched drive. |
| 1910 Haddon Races of Man 74 Men still wear the *tree-bark loincloth and the women a tree-bark wrapper. |
| 1962 E. Snow Other Side of River (1963) lxvi. 502 Another *tree belt had been more than half planted over a length of 720 miles. |
| 1886 Hardy Mayor Casterbr. I. iv. 49 From the centre of each side of this *tree-bound square ran avenues. 1951 L. MacNeice tr. Goethe's Faust ii. 202 Through a great plain Peneios freely takes His bush-bound, tree-bound course through quiet lakes. |
| 1836–48 B. D. Walsh Aristoph., Clouds i. iv, Fly to the tops of the *tree-clad mountains! |
| 1943 J. S. Huxley TVA 102 An unusual line of TVA research concerns the development of so-called *tree-crops. 1958 Times 22 Aug. 12/4 Tree-crops, small fruits, grains, seeds, and livestock are the main farming interests. |
| 1894 Pop. Sci. Monthly June 69 Such is the name of the *tree-dweller. |
| 1908 Sir H. Johnston Grenfell & Congo II. xxi. 507 These *tree-dwelling Pygmies. |
| 1865 Kingsley Herew. xxx, Swaffham, Quy, and Waterbeach, and the rest of the *tree-embowered hamlets which fringed the fen. |
| 1788 Cowper Mrs. Throckmorton's Bullfinch xi, The *tree-enchanter Orpheus. |
| 1853 Zoologist II. 4035 Instances of *tree-feeding species. |
| 1759 Crit. Rev. Sept. 178 Why, for example, should we be so complaisant to the French, as to use their terms of carcasse,..abbattement.., and coup de main; when we can say fire-ball,..*tree-felling,..and bold stroke? 1849 J. Forbes Physic. Holiday i, They..indulge in farming, gardening, tree-felling. |
| 1855 Kingsley Heroes iii. (1868) 32 Round the *tree-foot was coiled the dragon. |
| 1922 Joyce Ulysses 191 A runaway in blighted *treeforks from hue and cry. 1946 Dylan Thomas Deaths & Entrances 22 A she bird sleeping..Within the nested treefork. |
| 1704 J. Pitts Acc. Mohammetans 66 They have but little *Tree-Fruit. 1946 Nature 2 Nov. 605/1, I presented the fundamental and elementary culture of the Mediterranean based on a combination of cereal agriculture and tree-fruit crops. 1970 D. Waterfield Continental Waterboy i. 8 A family could make a living off ten acres by growing tree-fruits. |
| 1601 Weever Mirr. Mart. E vij, *Tree-garnisht Cambriaes loftie mountaines. |
| 1812 W. Tennant Anster F. ii. xxxiv, All the *tree-girt country-seats. |
| 1904 Spencer & Gillen North. Tribes Central Australia xvii. 527 A visit to the *tree grave. |
| 1600 Fairfax Tasso xi. xxxvii, With dreadfull hornes of iron tought *tree-great. |
| 1846 J. G. Whittier Poems (1849) 321 Ghosts of old Beliefs still flit and moan..O'er *tree-grown barrow and gray ring of stone. 1978 Detroit Free Press 5 Mar. (Parade Suppl.) 15/3 Tree-grown cherries..demand years of tender care. |
| 1917 Amer. Forestry XXIV. 732 (caption) Comparison of 43 years of rainfall and *tree growth. 1956 Nature 21 Jan. 124/1 The variety and abundance of insect life as a whole rapidly fall off beyond the limits of tree-growth. |
| 1871 Darwin Desc. Man ii. xvi. (1890) 489 *Tree-haunting birds. |
| 1927 J. Elder Thomasina Toddy xii. 118 Leafy backwaters, sunny fields, and *tree-hung banks to suit all tastes. 1981 Sunday Express 11 Oct. (Colour Suppl.) 23/2 There is a little, tree-hung, irregular village square with an island of greenery at its hub. |
| 1898 Saga-Bk. Viking Club Jan. 122 The *tree-life of Western Greenland. |
| 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 7 The hollow truncks of most *tree-like canes being full of water. 1776 Withering Brit. Plants (1796) II. 316 Stem tree-like. |
| 1910 Bradshaw's Railway Guide Apr. 1123 (Advt.), The smartest bijou hotel in London... Situate in wide *tree-lined thoroughfare. 1978 R. Ludlum Holcroft Covenant xi. 130 He..drove rapidly through the peaceful, tree-lined suburban area. |
| 1844 Mrs. Browning Lost Bower iii, A little wood..As it climbeth..Sideway from the *tree-locked valley. |
| 1589 Fleming Virg. Bucol. & Georg. 3 The *treelopper..Shall chaunt and sing. |
| 1885–94 R. Bridges Eros & Psyche, Aug. xiv, The great hill-haunting and *tree-loving Pan. |
| 1905 A. R. Wallace Life II. 153 The gardens, the greenhouses, the *tree-nursery. |
| 1864 H. Woodward in Intell. Observer V. 181 Piece of a Vase ornamented with a *tree pattern. |
| 1879 C. M. Yonge Magnum Bonum III. xl. 904 The broad *tree-planted streets of the old Quaker city. 1962 E. Snow Other Side of River (1963) lxx. 539 Strolling down a tree-planted street of new apartment houses I chose one to enter. |
| 1825 Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) II. 227 Experienced *tree-planters. |
| 1872, 1902 *Tree-planting [see Arbor Day]. a 1974 R. Crossman Diaries (1975) I. 67 Today I was busy with Pritchett about tree-planting on the bends of the Cherwell between Upper Prescote and Prescote. 1980 P. Lively Judgement Day vii. 90 He..had refused to contribute to the Tree Planting Fund. |
| c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 488 He sett hym down at a *tre-rute in þe son to comfurth hym. |
| 1951 *Tree-scattered [see river-winding s.v. river n.1 5 g]. |
| 1923 Kipling Irish Guards in Gt. War II. 163 A close and blind land of woods, copses, farms, mills and *tree-screened roads. |
| 1870 Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 385 Like to a *tree-set garden. |
| 1909 Westm. Gaz. 20 Oct. 4/1 Matthew Arnold's *tree-shaded grave lies to the south-east of the church. 1958 O. Caroe Pathans xvii. 285 A place he loved, covered with green turf, tree-shaded beside the broad stream. |
| 1954 J. R. R. Tolkien Fellowship of Ring i. iii. 87 As silent as *tree shadows. |
| 1952 S. Spender Learning Laughter ix. 117 Ben Shemen is a charming, *tree-shadowed place. |
| 1912 E. Pound Ripostes 37 In streams and *tree-shadowing Forests on hill slopes. |
| 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. xxiii. (1858) 499 A *tree-skirted glade. |
| 1871 Kingsley At Last xi, We were aware, between the *tree-stems, of a green misty gulf. |
| 1857 T. Moore Handbk. Brit. Ferns (ed. 3) 56 A decaying mossy *tree-stump. |
| 1915 W. B. Yeats Reveries over Childhood & Youth ii. 16 Next to Merville where I lived, was another *tree-surrounded house. |
| 1925 A. Huxley Those Barren Leaves ii. v. 125 Round as a fruit, *tree-tangled, shines The moon. |
| 1894 H. Nisbet Bush Girl's Rom. 200 There..sat the chief..with his back against a *tree-trunk. 1914 Munro Prehist. Britain viii. 185 Only two or three..tree-trunk coffins have been found in Britain. |
| 1886 W. B. Yeats Mosada 3 Whose dwelling was a *tree-wrapt island. |
10. Special
Combs. a. in names of plants, usually denoting species or varieties that grow to the stature or in the form of a tree, sometimes those that grow on trees; as
tree amaranthus,
tree cabbage,
tree carnation,
celandine,
tree crane's-bill,
tree fuchsia, house-leek,
mallow,
tree melon,
mignonette,
onion,
tree pea,
poppy,
primrose,
tree rhododendron,
tomato,
violet,
willow,
wormwood;
tree aloe,
Aloë dichotoma;
tree azalea,
Azalea (
Rhododendron)
arborescens;
tree-beard, (
a)
Tillandsia usneoides; (
b) the lichen
Usnea barbata;
tree-box, any of several larger varieties of the common box,
Buxus sempervirens;
tree cactus, a tall-growing cactus, as the saguaro;
tree-climber = liana, liane;
cf. tree-creeper 2;
tree clover,
Melilotus alba;
tree cotton,
Gossypium arboreum;
tree cranberry = cranberry-
tree;
tree-daisy = olearia;
tree-fuchsia, a shrub or small tree,
Fuchsia excorticata, native to New Zealand and bearing pendent reddish-purple flowers with blue pollen;
cf. konini;
tree germander,
Teucrium fruticans (Miller
Plant-n.);
tree golden-rod = golden-rod tree;
tree-hair: see
quots.;
tree heath,
Erica arborea;
tree lily, (
a) a plant of the genus
Vellozia (N.O.
Amaryllidaceæ), comprising arborescent species found in Brazil and S. Africa, with lily-like flowers; (
b) a name for the genus
Dracæna (N.O.
Liliaceæ);
tree lotus, the nettle-tree,
Celtis australis;
= lote-tree a;
tree lucerne (see
quot. 1965);
tree lungwort, (
a) a lichen,
Sticta pulmonaria,
= lungwort 5; (
b) a boraginaceous plant,
Mertensia virginica (
cf. lungwort 3 b);
tree lupine,
Lupinus arboreus of California;
tree medick: see
quot.;
tree nettle = nettle-tree 2;
tree onion: see
onion 2;
tree orchid,
orchis, an orchid growing on trees, as those of the genus
Epidendrum;
tree pæony,
peony = moutan;
tree poke,
Phytolacca dioica;
tree purslane = purslane-
tree (
b);
tree sorrel,
Rumex Lunaria;
tree-tobacco: see
quot. (See also
tree-creeper 2, -fern, -moss, -trefoil.)
| 1786 Abercrombie Gard. Assist. 115 India pink, mignonette,..*tree-amaranthus. |
| 1884 Miller Plant-n., Azalea arborescens, Smooth Azalea, *Tree Azalea. |
| 1861 Bentley Man. Bot. 675 Tillandsia usneoides is commonly called *Tree-beard or Old Man's Beard, from the..mass of dark coloured fibres, which hang from the trees in South America. |
| 1731 P. Miller Gardeners Dict. s.v. Buxus. All the Varieties of the *Tree or large Box are proper to intermix in Clumps of Ever-greens. 1785 G. Washington Jrnl. 13 Apr. (1925) II. 360, 12 Horse Chestnut Trees..and an equal number of cuttings of the Tree Box. 1858 J. A. Warder Hedges & Evergreens ii. 240 Where a moderate or low hedge is needed,..nothing can be better than the Tree-box. |
| 1829 Glover's Hist. Derby I. 199 The ten-thousand-headed cabbage, or *tree cabbage. |
| 1864 J. A. Grant Walk across Afr. 339 A *tree-climber (Landolphia florida?) lay with its trunk winding like a huge snake. |
| 1884 De Candolle's Orig. Cultiv. Plants 406 Upper Egypt,..where we know the *tree-cotton to be wild. |
| 1868 B. J. Lossing Hudson 35 Here and there among the rocks..the *tree-cranberry appeared. |
| 1712 J. Petiver in Phil. Trans. XXVII. 420 Hermans round-leaved Cape *Tree Cranes-bill. |
| 1926 *Tree-daisy [see daisy-tree s.v. daisy 7]. 1958 Cockayne & Turner Trees N.Z. (ed. 4) 142 Weeping tree daisy..common in Central Otago. |
| 1906 Laing & Blackwell Plants N.Z. 294 (heading) Fuchsia excorticata (the *tree fuchsia). 1910 L. Cockayne N.Z. Plants iii. 29 The tree-fuchsia..offers a transition to the scrambling habit. 1970 S. Afr. Panorama Feb. 35/3 Below the platform a minute sunbird with iridescent blue plumage hovered before the crimson blooms of a tree-fuchsia. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cciii. 532 Of *Tree Germander. |
| 1866 Treas. Bot. 1161 *Tree-hair, a name sometimes given to the dark wiry pendulous entangled masses of a lichen, Cornicularia jubata,..not uncommon on trees in sub-alpine woods. Ibid. 1197 The species [of Usnea]..are often called Tree Moss or Tree Hair. |
| 1777 Hunter in Phil. Trans. LXVIII. 40 The erica arborea or *Tree-heath, a native of Spain and Portugal. 1907 Gentl. Mag. July 98/2 The big tree-heaths begin about 9500 ft. |
| 1891 Cent. Dict. s.v. Vellozia, *Tree-lily. |
| 1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 14 June 25/1 *Tree lucerne is very hardy and easily grown from seed. 1965 Austral. Encycl. V. 383/1 The white-flowered tagasaste of Teneriffe (Cytisus proliferus), which is a very large broom, is often known in Australia as tree lucerne, a name strictly applicable to the yellow-flowered bush Medicago arborea. 1981 Southern Horticulture (N.Z.) Spring 53/1 Weather conditions could influence the situation, as too could the presence of tree lucerne near-by. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal iii. clix. 1377 Lichen arborum, *Tree Lungwoort. |
| 1882 Garden 3 June 381/1 The *Tree Lupine..bears a profusion of yellow flowers. |
| 1884 Miller Plant-n., Medicago arborea, Moon-Trefoil, *Tree-Medick. |
| 1905 Daily Graphic 16 Jan. 4/4 The mummy-apple, a delicate *tree-melon. |
| 1811 W. T. Aiton Hortus Kewensis (ed. 2) III. 315 Chinese *Tree Pæony. Moutan. Nat[ive] of China. 1842 J. Aiton Domest. Econ. (1857) 287 The laburnums,..the dwarf almond on the verge of the walks, and the tree-peony. 1880 [see moutan]. 1962 I. Murdoch Unofficial Rose i. 44 The more intense evening light against a long bed of yuccas and tree peonies. 1980 R. Grounds Private Life Plants xxiii. 133 As many as 3,000 flowers have been counted on a tree peony. |
| 1884 Leisure Hour Feb. 84/1 The *tree-pea, a shrub bearing pods very similar to those familiar to us all. |
| 1882 Garden 22 July 73/3 The *tree Purslane..is a loose, rambling plant. |
| 1848 tr. Hoffmeister's Trav. Ceylon, etc., iv. 181 A forest of magnificent *Tree-Rhododendrons. |
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Sorrel, The roundish-leaved *tree-sorrel. |
| 1895 Daily News 28 Aug. 5/4 A very undesirable weed from the Argentine is spreading in the Canary Islands. This is the *Tree-tobacco... It is a troublesome pest in New South Wales and Victoria, where it is regarded as poisonous to cattle and horses. |
b. in names of animals living in or on or frequenting trees, as
tree-ant,
tree-bee,
tree-beetle,
tree-boa,
tree-chafer, -cuckoo,
tree-falcon, -kangaroo,
tree-leech,
tree-linnet (
Sc. tree-lintie),
tree-monkey,
tree-partridge, -pipit, -shrike,
tree-slug, -squirrel, -swallow, -swift, -wasp;
tree-asp, a venomous serpent of the genus
Dendraspis;
tree-bear (
U.S. local), a name for the racoon;
tree-bug, any one of various hemipterous insects which feed upon the juices of trees and shrubs;
tree-butterfly, a butterfly that lives among trees, as those of the S. African genus
Charaxes;
tree-cat, (
a) a viverrine animal of the genus
Paradoxurus, a palm-cat; (
b)
= tree-fox;
tree-crab, a species of land-crab,
Birgus latro, also called
palm-crab (see
palm n.1 7);
tree-cricket, a cricket of the genus
Œcanthus;
tree-crow, (
a) any one of various Oriental birds intermediate between crows and jays, as the genera
Crypsirhina,
Dendrocitta, etc.; (
b)
wattled tree-crow, a crow of the sub-family
Glaucopinæ, a wattle-crow;
tree-dove, any one of numerous arboreal species of pigeon of India, Australia, etc., belonging or allied to the genus
Macropygia;
tree-duck, a duck of the genus
Dendrocygna or an allied genus;
tree-finch = tree sparrow a;
tree-fish: see
quot.;
tree-fly, a fly of the family
Xylophagidæ;
tree-fox: see
quot.;
tree-hoopoe, a bird of the genus
Irrisor, a wood-hoopoe;
tree-hopper, any one of various homopterous insects which live on trees; sometimes
spec. the cicada;
tree-lark = tree-pipit;
tree-lizard, a lizard of the group
Dendrosaura;
tree-lobster = tree-crab;
tree-louse, an aphis, a plant-louse;
tree-martin, (
a) an Australian bird,
Petrochelidon nigricans (Morris
Austral Eng.); (
b) a S. American bird,
Progne tapera;
tree-mouse, (
a) any species of mouse of arboreal habits; (
b) see
quot. 1897;
tree-oyster, an oyster found upon the roots of the mangrove;
tree-pie, a tree-crow of the genus
Dendrocitta, found in India, China, and neighbouring countries;
tree-pigeon, any one of various arboreal pigeons inhabiting Asia, Africa, and Australia;
tree-porcupine, any porcupine of the subfamily
Sphingurinæ, inhabiting America and the West Indies, living in trees, and having prehensile tails;
tree-rat, an arboreal rodent, as those of the West Indian genera
Capromys and
Plagiodon;
tree-runner, a brightly coloured Australian nuthatch of the genus
Neositta,
esp. N. chrysoptera;
tree-serpent,
tree-snake, any snake of arboreal habits, as those of the families
Dendrophidæ and
Dipsadidæ (both non-venomous);
tree-shrew, an insectivorous animal of the genus
Tupaia, a squirrel-shrew;
tree-spider, any of many spiders that live on the trunks or branches of trees;
tree squirrel, an arboreal squirrel, distinguished from a ground squirrel;
tree-tiger, a name for the leopard (
Cent. Dict.);
tree-warbler, a bird of the genus
Hypolais (sometimes reckoned as a subgenus of
Sylvia). (See also
tree-creeper 1, -frog, -goose, -sparrow, -toad, -worm.)
| 1899 F. V. Kirby Sport E. C. Africa xv. 163 A colony of those terrible insects, the red *tree-ants. |
| 1891 Cent. Dict., *Tree-bear. 1902 Westm. Gaz. 31 May 2/1 Joe produced from the recesses of his loose blouse a baby tree-bear and a handful of gum leaves. |
| 1693 Phil. Trans. XVII. 612 He admires the..Contrivance of the Honeycomb, and particularly the *Tree-Bee. |
| 1747 Baker ibid. XLIV. 578 The *Tree-Beetle, or blind Beetle, vulgarly in Norfolk called the Dor. |
| 1842 Loudon Suburban Hort. 108 Besides the above-mentioned Ichneumonidæ, ants, field or *tree bugs, and many sorts of spiders, contribute..to the extirpation of various insects. |
| 1869 R. Trimen in The Cape & its People (ed. R. Noble) 99 One of these *tree-butterflies, massive of thorax and broad and rigid of wing. |
| 1885 W. T. Hornaday 2 Yrs. in Jungle vii. 70 It proved to be a *tree-cat (Paradoxurus musanga). 1894 Lydekker Royal Nat. Hist. I. 457 The palm-civets, tree-cats, or toddy-cats, as they are indifferently called. |
| 1704 Petiver Gazophyl. ii. xix, The great Brown-*Tree-Chaffer. 1816 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xxiii. (1818) II. 321 The less savage but equally destructive tree-chafers (Melolonthæ). |
| 1859 Ripley & Dana Amer. Cycl. VI. 63/1 They form the genus œcanthus, and are called *tree or climbing crickets. |
| 1879 E. P. Wright Anim. Life 246 Of the *Tree Crows we can only mention—The Benteot (Crypsirhina varia) of Java. |
| 1872 Coues N. Amer. Birds 45 The crural feathers are..sometimes long and flowing, as in..our *tree-cuckoos. |
| 1824 Stephens in Shaw Gen. Zool. XII. ii. 98 *Tree Duck..inhabits the West India islands and the adjacent continent... It is said to make a whistling..noise, and to build its nest in trees. |
| 1668 Charleton Onomast. 66 Falco Arborarius,..the *tree-Falcon. |
| 1783 Latham Synopsis Birds III. 252 *Tree Finch..is observed always to build on trees, and not in buildings like the House Sparrow. |
| 1888 Goode Amer. Fishes 263 Sebastichthys serriceps,..known as the ‘*Tree-fish’, an appellation originating with the Portuguese..and without obvious application. |
| 1834 Chambers's Edin. Jrnl. III. 357/3 Much wood..during warm and summer months, raining down great store of *tree-flies. |
| 1904 P. Fountain Gt. North-West x. 104 The *tree-fox, or tree-cat, of the trappers..is Mustela pennanti, often called the fish-marten. |
| 1873 Cassell's Bk. Birds III. 15 The *Tree Hoopoes (Irrisor) inhabit the forests of Africa... [They] pass their lives exclusively upon trees. |
| 1836–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. II. 868/2 The..*tree-hoppers..approach to the Terebrantia. 1850 Gosse Rivers of Bible (1878) 286 Probably tree-hoppers, cicadæ, are meant. |
| 1900 Pollok & Thom Sports Burma II. 40 The *tree-leeches, so plentiful in forests..in Lower Burma, are a sad drawback to the pleasures of sport. |
| 1844 Zoologist II. 508 Chaffinch, ‘*Tree-lintie’. |
| 1797 Monthly Mag. III. 454/2 Bonnet..applied himself..to collecting..his experiments and observations concerning the *tree-louse and the worm. |
| 1893 Outing (U.S.) XXII. 109/2 Swarms of *tree-monkeys congregate in chattering throngs. |
| 1897 Blanchan Bird Neighbors 84 White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)... Called also *Tree-mouse. 1904 Q. Rev. Oct. 472 The tree-mice and the veldt-rats. |
| 1767 Ellis in Phil. Trans. LVII. 432 The *Tree Oyster, and the Slipper Barnicle. 1901 Daily Chron. 28 Sept. 5/2 Proposal for increasing and improving the cultivation of tree-oysters. |
| 1864 J. A. Grant Walk across Afr. 93 The..*tree-partridge resembles the painted one of India, has yellow legs, beautiful plumage, and weighs about a pound. 1895 Lydekker Royal Nat. Hist. IV. 413 The common tree-partridge (A[rboricola] torqueolus) ranging to an elevation of fourteen thousand feet. |
| 1871 Kingsley At Last v, The *Tree Porcupine, or Coendou,..climbs trees after leaves, and swings about like the monkeys. |
| 1885 W. T. Hornaday 2 Yrs. in Jungle xv. 171 Two *tree-rats (Mus rufescens) used to come into my hut from the jungle. |
| 1901 A. J. Campbell Nests & Eggs Austral. Birds I. 337 The true home of the Orange-winged Sittella or *Tree Runner is Eastern Australia. 1964 A. L. Thomson New Dict. Birds 545/2 The so-called ‘treerunners’ or ‘sitellas’ are widely distributed in Australia. |
| 1731 Medley Kolben's Cape G. Hope II. 163 The *Tree-Serpent is so call'd on account of her being seen mostly in trees. |
| 1893 Lydekker Royal Nat. Hist. I. 312 With the *tree-shrews, or tupaias, we come to the first family of the true Insectivores. |
| 1866–8 Owen Vertebr. Anim. (L.), Some nocturnal *tree-snakes have a prolonged snout. |
| 1904 W. H. Hudson Green Mansions ii. 33 The shaft reveals a tangle of shining silver threads—the web of some large *tree-spider. 1910 W. de la Mare Three Mulla-Mulgars iii. 45 They sat and ate..with scorpions and speckled tree-spiders watching them. 1934 A. Russell Tramp-Royal in Wild Austral. xxxviii. 249 So strong and thickly-woven are the webs of the Central Australian tree or orchid spider that small birds are often caught in them. |
| 1822 J. Woods Two Years' Residence Eng. Prairie 193 *Tree-squirrels are of two or more sorts, and are eaten here. 1872 Routledge's Every Boy's Ann. 614/1 Dennis climbs like a tree squirrel. 1968 Ecol. Monogr. XXXVIII. 31 (title) The adaptive nature of social organisation in the genus of tree squirrels Tamiasciurus. |
| 1881 Seebohm Brit. Mus. Catal. Birds V. 78 The Icterine *Tree-Warbler breeds in Central and Northern Europe, from the Atlantic to the Ural Mountains, extending northwards as far as the Arctic circle. |
c. Other Special
Combs.:
tree-agate, a variety of agate with dendritic or tree-like markings (
cf. moss-
agate);
tree-box, a frame used to protect a young tree;
tree-bridge,
† (
a) a wooden bridge (
obs.); (
b) a bridge formed by a fallen tree;
tree-burial, the custom, among some peoples, of disposing of dead bodies by placing them in hollow trunks, or among the branches, of trees;
tree-calf (
Bookbinding): see
quots.;
tree-claim (
U.S.), a ‘claim’ or piece of land allotted with the proviso that it shall become the property of the occupier after a fixed term on condition of his planting a certain proportion of it with trees;
tree-climber, a person or animal that climbs a tree or trees;
spec. (
a)
= tree-creeper 1; (
b) a fish, the
anabas or climbing perch;
tree-clipper (
local), the common tree-creeper (
Certhia familiaris);
tree-coffin, a prehistoric coffin made of a hollow tree-trunk;
† tree-cop (
obs.)
= tree-top;
tree-coral, a branching coral;
tree-coupling, in a vehicle, a piece connecting a ‘single-tree’ or swingletree and a double-tree;
† tree-crop (
obs.)
= tree-top;
tree-cult,
-cultus = tree-worship;
tree-deity = tree-god;
tree-diagram = sense 6 b (e);
tree-digger: see
quot.;
tree doctor = tree surgeon below;
tree-drum, a drum made from the trunk of a tree;
tree farm orig. and chiefly
U.S., an area of forest managed in a way that ensures the regular production of timber; hence
tree farmer,
farming;
tree-feeder, an animal that feeds on the foliage of trees or the insects living on leaves or bark;
tree-god, a divinity supposed to inhabit a tree, or a tree that is an object of worship; so
tree-goddess;
† tree-honey (
obs.), a sweet juice or gum exuding from certain trees;
tree-house, (
a) a house built in a tree (as by the natives of New Guinea) for security against enemies; (
b) a child's playhouse (sense 2 a) built in a tree;
tree-iron: see
quot.;
† tree-jobber (
obs.) [
jobber 1], a woodpecker;
tree-legged a. (
obs. or
dial.), wooden-legged;
tree-lifter: see
quot.;
tree-limit, the line beyond which trees do not grow, with reference to either altitude or latitude;
cf. tree-line (
a);
tree-line, (
a) the line or level on a mountain above which no trees grow (
cf. snow-line); (
b) a row of trees; the edge of a wood;
tree-maker, a maker of saddle-trees;
tree-man, one of a race of men living in trees;
tree-marble,
-marbling (
Bookbinding), marbling or staining in a tree-like branching pattern (
cf. tree-calf);
tree-marking, a tree-like or branched marking on the body of a person struck by lightning;
tree-milk, a milky juice used for food, obtained from a tree or tree-like plant, as those called
cow-tree, or the cow-plant of Sri Lanka;
tree-nest, a nest built in a tree, in contrast to one built at ground level;
tree-nymph, a nymph supposed to inhabit a tree;
tree-oil = tung-
oil;
tree-path, the track of an arboreal animal;
tree-people, in fantasy or fiction: (
a) persons that live in trees; (
b) animated trees;
tree preservation order, an order prohibiting the felling or removal of a tree or group of trees;
tree-protector, a contrivance for protecting the bark of a tree from injury by destructive insects, etc. (Knight
Dict. Mech. 1877);
tree-pruner, an implement for pruning trees; so
tree-pruning (also
transf., the removal of branches from a tree diagram);
tree-remover, an apparatus for transplanting trees (Knight, 1877);
tree-ring, an annual growth ring in the trunk of a tree; hence
tree-ring analysis,
dating = dendrochronology;
tree-road = tree-path above;
tree-rune, one of a set of runes or alphabetic characters of branched or tree-like form;
tree-scraper, an implement for scraping moss, dead bark, etc. from trees (Knight, 1877);
tree search, a search in which a situation or entity is represented by a tree diagram,
e.g. to facilitate efficient searching;
tree-spirit, a spirit believed to inhabit a tree (
cf. tree-god,
tree-nymph);
† tree-stone, a precious stone having tree-like markings (
cf. tree-agate);
tree stool, the stump of a fallen tree as preserved in a peat bog;
tree structure, a structure in which there are successive branchings or subdivisions;
cf. tree diagram above;
tree surgeon, a practitioner of tree surgery;
tree surgery, the pruning, repair, and preservative treatment of ornamental trees, first professionally organized by John Davey (1846–1923), American landscape architect;
† tree-turned a. (
obs.), turned or changed into a tree;
tree-village, a village consisting of
tree-houses;
tree-wax, any kind of wax produced from a tree, as Chinese wax, Japan wax;
tree-wool, a woolly substance obtained from a tree, as pine-wool (
pine n.2 7);
† tree-work (
obs.), work in wood, carpentry; so
† tree-worker, a carpenter;
tree-worship, worship rendered to trees or to the spirits supposed to inhabit them; so
tree-worshipper,
tree-worshipping.
| 1876 ‘Mark Twain’ Tom Sawyer ii. 27 [Tom] sat down on the *tree-box discouraged. 1896 J. C. Harris Sister Jane 157 Whittling away with his pocket-knife on the tree-box, against which he was leaning. |
| 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. v. (S.T.S.) I. 276 Thay..casting doune the *trie brig,..erected a fayre stane brig. 1805 T. E. White Jrnl. 20 July (1904) 26, I..cross'd the creek on a tree bridge an came through the woods. 1839–52 Bailey Festus xxvi. 446 To dare the broken tree-bridge across the stream. |
| 1901 Proc. Zool. Soc. 2 Apr. 309 In the States of Patalung and Singgora..the Siamese practise a form of *tree-burial. |
| 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 89 A third style of ornamentation is called *tree-calf. 1895 J. W. Zaehnsdorf Bookbinding 28 Tree Calf.—Bright brown calf stained with acids in conventional imitation of the branches of a tree. |
| 1890 L. D'Oyle Notches 44, I filed on the north-west quarter of 10 as a ‘homestead’, and the north-east quarter as a ‘*tree-claim’. |
| 1879 Jefferies Wild Life in S. Co. 175 If you sit down on the elm butt..and watch quietly, before long the little *tree-climber will come. 1885 C. F. Holder Marvels Anim. Life 36 The tree-climber (Anabas scandens) one of which he had..captured. |
| 1885 Swainson Prov. Names Birds 57 Tree Creeper..*Tree clipper (Oxon). |
| 1877 Greenwell Brit. Barrows 32 note, Stowborough, Dorsetshire, where a body was discovered in 1767, in a *tree-coffin. |
| c 1425 St. Christina x. in Anglia VIII. 123/21 She was constreyned to flee into *tree-coppys or touris, or in to oþere summe hygh þinges. |
| 1871 Harper's Mag. June 28 On the confines of this channel may be seen in clear water a perfect forest of coral—*tree-coral, we call it, on account of its great size. 1915 E. R. Lankester Diversions Naturalist 11 Great tree-coral of these waters—the Paragorgia. |
| 1877 Knight Dict. Mech., *Tree-coupling, a piece uniting a single to a double tree. |
| 14.. Childh. Jesus 644 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1878) 120 Alle þe chyldron..In to þe *tre-croppe hem toke. 1560 Rolland Seven Sages 66 The hird was sair feirit..That the tre crop he suld gar turne dounwart. |
| 1905 Clodd Animism xiv. 74 In such customs and beliefs..are the materials of the manifold *tree-cults. |
| 1871 Tylor Prim. Culture xv. II. 202 The whole *tree-cultus of the world must by no means be thrown indiscriminately into the one category. |
| 1911 Encycl. Brit. XXVII. 237/1 The powers of the *tree-deities. |
| 1965 N. Chomsky Aspects of Theory of Syntax i. 14 A *tree-diagram of a sentence. 1978 Language LIV. 15 In a tree diagram, only the configuration of nodes matters, not the length of branches and sub-branches. |
| 1877 Knight Dict. Mech., *Tree-digger, a kind of double plow employed in nurseries for cutting off the roots of trees which have been planted in rows. |
| 1776 tr. Béardé de l'Abbaye's Ess. in Agriculture vi. 37 There was a person, who assumed the title of *Tree doctor. 1908 Harper's Weekly 5 Dec. 15/1 The services of the tree doctor are needed. 1976 ‘M. Albrand’ Taste of Terror xx. 115 The tree doctor..took a look at the willow. |
| 1849 Cupples Green Hand xvii, I could make out the hollow booming of the African *tree-drum. |
| 1941 N.Y. Times Mag. 9 Nov. 13/2 Instead of reseeding sketchily over immense areas, the industry is laying out ‘*tree farms’. 1973 P. A. Whitney Snowfire xii. 231 He told me..about the controlled growth..on a tree farm. 1984 New Yorker 23 Jan. 78/3 Tree farms [in China] have also begun to experience problems with theft. |
| 1942 Jrnl. Forestry XL. 596/2 *Tree farmers..should be eligible for the same..treatment as other farmers. |
| Ibid., *Tree farming appears to be off to a good start. 1962 Tree-farming [see clear-fell s.v. clear a. D. 3]. 1973 P. A. Whitney Snowfire ii. 21 Julian had gone into tree farming. |
| 1914 Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 75/1 A species of rhinoceros..was particularly a *tree-feeder. 1953 N. Tinbergen Herring Gull's World vii. 66 Great Tits..being tree-feeders, they do not peck at the ground. |
| 1905 W. E. Geil Yankee in Pigmy Land v. 66 Their *tree-god, hideous and ridiculous. 1911 S. A. Cooke in Encycl. Brit. XXVII. 237/2 note, An African tree-god with priests and ‘wives’. |
| 1895 A. J. Evans in Folk-Lore Mar. 21 A *Tree-Goddess akin to the Dryads of old. |
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §848 It seemeth that there was, in old time, *Tree-Honey, as well as Bee-Honey. |
| 1867 J. C. Patteson in C. M. Yonge Life J. C. Patteson (1874) II. xi. 275, I am high and dry, and have..a broad ladder—up to my house. The Mahaga lads and I call it my *tree-house. 1901 Wide World Mag. VI. 518/1 A New Guinea tree-house. 1908 Daily Chron. 19 Mar. 6/6 A large store of ammunition in the shape of heavy stones is kept in the tree-houses, and is dropped with skill and discrimination upon the heads of..raiders. 1949 A. Wilson Wrong Set 128 Go see if she's in the Tree House... It's a kind of funny old place she and Hamish made when they were kids. 1979 R. Jaffe Class Reunion i. iv. 40 She couldn't go up in the tree house anymore. |
| 1877 Knight Dict. Mech., *Tree-irons, the irons connecting single to double trees, or the latter to the tongue of the vehicle. Also the hooks or clips by which the traces are attached. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny x. xxix, There be no wood-pecks or *tree-jobbers. |
| 1832 Ballantine in Whistlebinkie (1890) I. 177 Ilk *tree-legged man, ilk club-taed laddie. |
| 1844 G. Greenwood (title) The *Tree-lifter; or, a new method of transplanting Forest Trees. |
| 1934 Discovery June 167/1 They extend well above the local *tree-limit. 1953 D. Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles I. 209 The typical Swedish race..and the west European race..have a very wide distribution on the continent of Europe, where their combined range extends north to the tree-limit. |
| 1893 Outing Aug. 346/1 We struck the *tree-line again in the immense ravine between them. 1903 Kipling Five Nations 53, I camped above the tree-line—drifted snow and naked boulders. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 2 Sept. 2/3 Now we are high up, above the tree-line. 1936 F. Clune Roaming round Darling xiv. 123 The trail..wended down the Barwon, branching off at the various blazed tree-lines to the numerous creeks where they settled. 1977 D. Harsent Dreams of Dead 23 In single file the women left the treeline, a flicker at the corner of his eye. |
| 1828 Sporting Mag. XXIII. 103 In making saddles..the trees of them are occasionally leaded by a *tree-maker. |
| 1904 Edin. Rev. Apr. 348 The horrible little *tree-men discovered by Stanley. |
| 1885 C. G. W. Lock Workshop Receipts Ser. iv. 266/1 Marbling on leather is produced by small drops of colouring liquids, drawn..into veins, and spread into fantastic forms resembling foliage—hence often called ‘*tree-marble’. |
| 1900 Lancet 27 Oct. 1199/2 There was numbness in both legs and *tree-marking on the left breast. |
| 1924 J. A. Thomson Sci. Old & New x. 55 A..Tineid caterpillar, found in the *tree-nest of one of the Termites. 1953 D. A. Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles I. 16 These tree-nests [of crows] are often most conspicuous. |
| 1831 Keightley Mythol. Gr. & It. i. xvi. 206 The *Tree-nymphs (Hamadryades), who were born and died with the trees. |
| 1897 J. L. Allen Choir Invisible xv. 227 The grass-path or the *tree-path of the cougar. |
| 1954 J. R. R. Tolkien Fellowship of Ring ii. vi. 355 That was the custom of the Elves of Lórien, to dwell in the trees... Therefore they were called the Galadrim, the *Tree-people. 1964 Listener 24 Dec. 1003/1, I think an intelligent plant would be large and virtually immobile; the tree-people in Olaf Stapledon's Star Maker might just qualify. |
| [1943 Act 6 & 7 Geo. VI c. 29 §8 If it appears to any interim development authority that it is expedient..to make provision for the preservation of trees or woodlands..they may..make an order (in this section referred to as an ‘interim preservation order’) with respect to such trees.] 1947 L. Silkin in Hansard (Commons) 22 Apr. 779 One hundred and six *tree preservation orders have been submitted for my approval. 1976 Leicester Mercury 16 July, A tree preservation order has been made by the Harborough District Council to protect trees in and around the grounds of Little Bowden Rectory. |
| 1887 Illustr. Catal. Garden Furniture (J. B. Brown & Son) 83 The ‘standard’ *tree pruners. |
| 1933 R. Tuve Seasons & Months iv. 160 February-by-the-fire has been crowded out by putting an extra *tree-pruning picture into the series. 1966 Math. Linguistics & Automatic Translation (Harvard Univ. Computation Lab. Rep. No. NSF-17) iv–1 (heading) A proposal rule of tree-pruning. 1976 J. S. Gruber Lexical Structures in Syntax & Semantics ii. iii. 365 We will have the following four derived trees... Each of these will undergo tree-pruning. |
| 1919 A. E. Douglass Climatic Cycles & Tree-growth iii. 23 The plan of using *tree-rings for the general purpose of a check on astronomical and meteorological phenomena was first formulated in 1901. 1982 Nature 6 May 28/1 Others have sought an explanation of..variations in tree rings. |
| 1946 F. E. Zeuner Dating Past i. 6 *Tree-ring analysis is based on a well-known structural feature of wood, namely the annual growth-rings. 1977 Times 20 July 13/4 Tree-ring analysis—or..dendrochronology—can..help to date..old paintings on oak panel. |
| 1946 F. E. Zeuner Dating Past 11 The scope of *tree-ring dating is extending rapidly. |
| 1895 Kipling 2nd Jungle Bk. 218 When he tired of ground-going he threw up his hands monkey-fashion to the nearest creeper,..he would follow a *tree-road till his mood changed. |
| 1863 J. M. Mitchell Mesehowe 49 The six *tree Runes form the word Arrier. 1901 Trans. Yorksh. Dial. Soc. May 82 An inscription in the cryptic characters, sometimes called ‘tree-runes’. |
| 1970 O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing xxii. 362 *Tree search and heuristic programming cover a wide field of problems and are in principle well suited for automatic computation. 1980 Daily Tel. 26 May 10/6 In a complex game, a computer normally moves after conducting a ‘tree search’ of all possible moves, a process which if unlimited by time, would take billions of years. |
| 1871 Tylor Prim. Cult. I. xi. 430 The belief in *tree-spirits, and the practice of tree-worship. 1897 Daily News 1 May 8/1 Our Jack-in-the-Green was originally the human embodiment of the tree spirit. |
| 1698 J. Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 215 *Tree-stones. Stones with the lively Representation or Form of a Tree thereon. |
| 1898 Geogr. Jrnl. XI. 431 The deeply submerged peats and *tree-stools indicated..that the post-glacial recovery brought the land-level almost to normal pre-glacial conditions. 1975 J. G. Evans Environment Early Man Brit. Isles vi. 140 Peat now covers these hills, but..they..were once forested as is shown by the presence of tree stools at the base of the peat. |
| 1965 N. Chomsky Aspects of Theory of Syntax i. 12 The most obvious formal property of utterances is their bracketing into constituents of various types, that is, the ‘*tree structure’ associated with them. 1971 Computers & Humanities V. 292 Special language facilities in the fields of list processing, string processing, tree structure operations. 1983 Austral. Microcomputer Mag. Aug. 51/2 WangNet's cable topology is a duplicated tree structure. |
| 1908 Harper's Weekly 5 Dec. 15/1 The attention given by the *tree surgeon to the aged and decaying historical trees of the country..is equal to that given a wealthy invalid by his physician. 1978 Cornish Guardian 27 Apr. 19/1 (Advt.), Tree Surgeons. Fully qualified and insured for all felling, planting, pruning and repair work. |
| 1902 J. Davey Tree Doctor 14 Learn to do your own *tree surgery, or direct it personally. 1973 Country Life 7 June 1706/3 (Advt.), Southern Tree Surgery Company (Consultants and Tree Surgeons). |
| 1605 Sylvester Urania lx, That sacred *Tree-turn'd Lady..From whose pure locks your still-green Laurels grow. |
| 1901 Field 27 Apr. 572/2 Another *tree village.., where I saw three houses erected on one tree. |
| 1857 Miller Elem. Chem. (1862) III. 267 The *tree wax of Japan consists of pure palmitin. |
| 1870 Rock Text. Fabr. i. (1876) 5 Embroidered with gold and *tree-wool. |
| c 1205 Lay. 22899 Ich con of *treo-wrekes [= -werkes: c 1275 treo-workes] wunder feole craftes. |
| 1382 Wyclif Isa. xliv. 12 The crafti man *tree werkere. |
| 1860 E. S. Poole in Smith's Dict. Bible I. 95/2 (Arabia), The stone-worship, *tree-worship, &c., of various tribes. |
| 1840 Thorpe Anc. Laws II. 249 We forbid..*tree worshipings [OE. treowwurþunga]. |
▸
tree-hugger n. chiefly
U.S. a person who cares for trees or the environment, an environmentalist (
usu. depreciative); (also
lit.) a person who adopts a position embracing a tree to prevent it from being felled.
| 1965 Appleton (Wisconsin) Post Crescent 10 Sept. 1/4 The battle was between the *tree huggers and the city. The city won, 100-0. 1977 Washington Post 7 Oct. (Weekend section) 1/1 Leaves are starting to turn now... Tree huggers predict colors will be most vibrant starting Oct. 15. (‘Tree huggers’ is what rangers assigned to the Washington area call themselves.) 1982 N.Y. Times 8 May 23/6 ‘Tree hugger’, some mutter, and I would say it myself before them. After all, I have not yet met an environmentalist who refuses to drive a car. 1990 R. Scarce Eco-warriors ii. viii. 157 Mahatma Gandhi's spirit also resides in the Chipko Movement, India's tree huggers. 2000 Truck & Driver Nov. 9/2 Britain is totally dependent on..the cheap and easy availability of fossil fuel; you don't need to be a tree-hugger to realise that this can't go on forever. |
▸
tree-hugging n. (a) adj. clinging to a tree;
spec. (
usu. depreciative) of environmentalists and their activities; (hence) designating or relating to environmental issues generally (see
tree-hugger n. at Additions);
(b) n. the action of embracing a tree,
esp. in order to prevent it from being felled; (usually in extended,
freq. depreciative use) environmentalist activity.
| 1978 N.Y. Times 23 Apr. cn6 A *tree-hugging four-foot-high carved-oak monkey that once graced the corner of a Barnum & Bailey circus wagon..will be seen at the 14th annual Southport-Westport Antiques Show. 1983 Economist (Nexis) 5 Mar. 102 The remarkable Chipko Andolan (tree-hugging) movement started in Uttar Pradesh in 1973, when tree-fellers were prevented from cutting down trees by villagers. 1987 San Diego Union-Tribune (Nexis) 1 Oct. b11 That is an important truth which often is obscured by rhetoric about ‘greedy developers,’..or ‘tree-hugging environmentalists’. 1992 M. Anderson Imposters in Temple v. 183 Wilderness skills (introduction to living and traveling in the wilderness; emphasis on interpersonal relations..environmental issues, and tree hugging). 2000 Church Times 26 May 10/1 One might think that the Prince was part Luddite, part tree-hugging eco-mystic. |
▪ II. tree, v. [f. prec. n.] † 1. intr. with
it: To grow into a tree, attain the size of a tree.
Obs. rare—1.
| 1650 Fuller Pisgah ii. x. 210 Authors have affirmed that hyssope doth tree it in Judea. |
b. intr. To take a tree-like or branching form, as a deposit from a solution under the influence of an electric current.
| 1884 Science 17 Oct. 392/1 It will not prevent treeing..which is one of the most serious defects of the Faure battery. |
2. trans. To drive into or up a tree; to cause to take refuge in a tree, as a hunted animal, or a man pursued by a wild beast. (In
quot. 1854
refl. = 3.) Also
fig. to put into a difficulty or ‘fix’ (
cf. up a tree,
prec. 7).
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Tree the Martern, Dislodge him. 1834 [S. Smith] Lett. J. Downing xxxii. (1835) 220 It wasn't long afore he tree'd a rakoon. 1854 Thoreau Walden xii. (1863) 250 Some small squirrel which has treed itself for security. 1859 H. Kingsley G. Hamlyn v, It's no use,..you are treed, and you can't help yourself. If I give information you swing. |
b. Fox-hunting: see
quot.| 1781 P. Beckford Hunting (1803) 214 In some countries..they have a method of treeing him. [Note] The intention of it is, to make the hounds more eager, and to let in the tail hounds. The fox is thrown across the branch of a tree, and the hounds are suffered to bay at him for some minutes before he is thrown amongst them. |
3. intr. To climb up or perch upon a tree;
esp. to take refuge in a tree from a hunter or pursuer.
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, A Martern Treeth, Lodgeth. 1834 J. Hall Kentucky II. 191 The raccoon..when the tree fell..was completely surrounded by his enemies, who took care to prevent him from again ‘treeing’. 1866 Reader 3 Nov. 908 In America everything seems to ‘tree’ or perch—quail, grouse, snipes, and, lastly, foxes. 1902 P. Fountain Mts. & Forests S. Amer. v. 129 Then the hunter must tree for his life. |
4. trans. To plant with trees. (Mostly in
pa. pple.;
cf. treed 1.)
| 1891 ‘Annie Thomas’ That Affair II. ix. 144 A secluded spot, well treed and shrubbed in. |
5. Technical senses.
a. To furnish with an (axle-)tree.
b. To stretch or shape upon a tree, as a boot or saddle: see
prec. 5 e, d.
c. To fit (a spade, pick, etc.) with a wooden handle.
d. To provide with supporting timbers or beams, as the roof of a coal-mine.
| 1765 Museum Rust. IV. lix. 250 The edges of new wheels wear off much faster than the edges of old ones; and if treed a small matter wider, or narrower, the impediment is greatly encreased. 1856 Chamb. Jrnl. V. 26/2 A Wellington boot beautifully ‘treed’ and polished. 1864 Strauss Eng. Workshops 94 The holes for the nails and rivets are then punched out, and the tool [a shovel] is finally treed up. 1887 P. M{supc}Neill Blawearie 76 To warn the men to have their wall-faces all cleared up, and their roofs well treed. |
Hence
ˈtreeing vbl. n.| 1884 [see 1 b]. 1885 Newhall in Harper's Mag. Jan. 286/2 Wax finishes are so generally used for men's shoes that ‘treeing’ and ‘dressing’ with gum and blacking..are important. 1902 Daily Chron. 28 July 3/3 The American grouse differs essentially..from the British variety. All the different kinds frequently perch on trees; in fact..this habit of ‘treeing’ is characteristic of the breed. |