tree

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See also: tree-, Tree, TREE, and tréë

English[edit]

A tree structure

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English tre, tree, treo, treou, trew, trow, from Old English trēo, trēow (tree, wood, timber, beam, log, stake, stick, grove, cross, rood), from Proto-West Germanic *treu, from Proto-Germanic *trewą (tree, wood), from pre-Germanic *dréwom, thematic e-grade derivative of Proto-Indo-European *dóru (tree).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

tree (plural trees or (obsolete) treen)

  1. A perennial woody plant taller and larger than a bush with a wooden trunk and, at some distance from the ground, leaves and branches.
    Hyperion is the tallest living tree in the world.
    Birds have a nest in a tree in the garden.
    • 1992 April 5, “The Full House”, in Jeeves and Wooster, Series 3, Episode 2:
      B. Wooster: Of all the places on this great planet of ours, West Neck, Long Island, has chosen to be the most unexciting. The last time anything remotely interesting happened here was in 1842, when a tree fell over. They still talk about it in the village.
    • 2019 October, Ian Walmsley, “Cleaning up”, in Modern Railways, page 42:
      When we see a train trapped behind (or embedded in) a fallen tree our first thought should be 'what was it doing there anyway?' [] Trees are also responsible for numerous minor delays in autumn [due to leaves falling on the track], which rolling stock engineers are supposed to cope with as usual.
  2. Any plant that is reminiscent of the above but not classified as a tree (in any botanical sense).
    the banana tree
  3. An object made from a tree trunk and having multiple hooks or storage platforms.
    He had the choice of buying a scratching post or a cat tree.
  4. A device used to hold or stretch a shoe open.
    He put a shoe tree in each of his shoes.
  5. The structural frame of a saddle.
  6. (graph theory) A connected graph with no cycles or, if the graph is finite, equivalently a connected graph with n vertices and n−1 edges.
  7. (computing theory) A recursive data structure in which each node has zero or more nodes as children.
  8. (graphical user interface) A display or listing of entries or elements such that there are primary and secondary entries shown, usually linked by drawn lines or by indenting to the right.
    We’ll show it as a tree list.
  9. Any structure or construct having branches representing divergence or possible choices.
  10. The structure or wooden frame used in the construction of a saddle used in horse riding.
  11. (in the plural, slang) Marijuana.
    • 2005, “Shake That”, in Eminem, Nate Dogg (lyrics), Curtain Call: The Hits:
      I like good pussy and I like good trees / Smoke so much weed you wouldn't believe
    • 2017 September 22, “Man's Not Hot”‎[1]performed by Big Shaq [Michael Dapaah]:
      Everyday man's on the block / Smoke trees (ah)
    • 2018, “Ace”, in Room 25[2], performed by Noname ft. Smino & Saba:
      Whiskey with the team, got it bubblin' / I got trees in my luggage, I got tings out in London / Hope UK, what you say? Fuck is you sayin'?
  12. (obsolete) A cross or gallows.
    Tyburn tree
  13. (chemistry) A mass of crystals, aggregated in arborescent forms, obtained by precipitation of a metal from solution.
  14. (cartomancy) The fifth Lenormand card.
  15. (uncountable, mathematics) Alternative letter-case form of TREE.

Synonyms[edit]

The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. For synonyms and antonyms you may use the templates {{syn|en|...}} or {{ant|en|...}}.

Hypernyms[edit]

Hyponyms[edit]

Of the sense “a perennial plant”
Computing, graph theory, mathematics
Other hyponyms of tree

Meronyms[edit]

Of the sense “a perennial plant”

Derived terms[edit]

Terms derived from “tree”
Attributive uses of the noun “tree”
Idioms with the word “tree”
proverbs
miscellaneous collection of multiterm words containing the word "tree"

Descendants[edit]

  • Jamaican Creole: chrii

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

Verb[edit]

tree (third-person singular simple present trees, present participle treeing, simple past and past participle treed)

  1. (transitive) To chase (an animal or person) up a tree.
    The dog treed the cat.
    • 1897, Henry Howard et al., editors, Encyclopaedia of Sport[3], volume I, London: Lawrence & Bullen, page 599:
      When hunted it [the jaguar] takes refuge in trees, and this habit is well known to hunters, who pursue it with dogs and pot it when treed.
    • 2008, Monte Dwyer, Red In The Centre: The Australian Bush Through Urban Eyes, Monyer Pty Ltd, page 146:
      "And our dogs used to tree the cats on our property here, and we'd dispatch them."
  2. (transitive) To place in a tree.
    Black bears can tree their cubs for protection, but grizzly bears cannot.
  3. (transitive) To place upon a tree; to fit with a tree; to stretch upon a tree.
    to tree a boot
    • 1930, Dashiell Hammett, chapter 14, in The Maltese Falcon[4], New York: Alfred A. Knopf, page 165:
      Two suits and an overcoat hung in the closet over three pairs of carefully treed shoes.
  4. (intransitive) To take refuge in a tree.

Translations[edit]

References[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Afrikaans[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Dutch tree, syncopic form of trede, from Middle Dutch trede. Equivalent to a deverbal from treden.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

tree (plural treë)

  1. step (single act of placing the foot when walking)
  2. yard (unit of length)

Dutch[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From syncope of trede, from Middle Dutch trede. Equivalent to a deverbal from treden.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /treː/, [treː], [treɪ̯]
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: tree
  • Rhymes: -eː

Noun[edit]

tree m (plural treden or treeën or trees, diminutive treetje n)

  1. step (of a staircase), stair
  2. (archaic) step (distance of one step when walking)
  3. (archaic, also tred) a unit of length of about 2 to 3 feet, roughly equivalent to a yard

Derived terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Manx[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Irish trí, from Proto-Celtic *trīs, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes.

Pronunciation[edit]

Numeral[edit]

tree

  1. three

References[edit]

Middle English[edit]

Noun[edit]

tree

  1. Alternative form of tre

North Frisian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Frisian thrē.

Numeral[edit]

tree

  1. (Heligoland) three