Tree

n. [A-S. treow, triw, trev, tret, treó, trè, O. Sax. treo, trio, O. Fries. & Icel. tré, Dan. trū, Sw. trä, träd, O. D. tere, taere, tree, Goth. triu, O. H. Ger. trä, tar, ter, allied to Gr. δρῦς, Slav. drews, Skr. taru.]

1Sense 1. (Bot.) A plant which is woody, branched, and perennial, like a shrub, but of larger size, generally exceeding ten feet in height, and of a single stock instead of a cluster.

☞ Trees are of various kinds; as nuciferous, or nut-bearing trees; bacciferous, or berry-bearing; coniferous, or cone-bearing, &c. Some are forest-trees, and useful for timber or fuel; others are fruit-trees, and cultivated in gardens and orchards; others are used chiefly for shade and ornament.

2Sense 2. Something constructed in the form of, or considered as resembling, a tree, consisting of a stem or stock and branches; as, a genealogical tree.

3Sense 3. A piece of timber, or something usually made of timber;—used in composition, as axletree, boot-tree, chesttree, crosstree, whiffle-tree, and the like.

4Sense 4. That upon which a person is crucified; a cross. [Obs.] “Jesus, . . . whom they slew and hanged on a tree.” Acts x. 39.

5Sense 5. Wood; timber. [Obs.] Wycliffe.

Tree of a saddle, the frame of it.—Tree-of-heaven (Bot.), an ornamental tree of the genus Ailanthus (A. glandulosus), having long, handsome, pinnate leaves, and greenish flowers of a disagreeable odor. Gray.—Tree-of-life, an evergreen tree of the genus Thuja; arbor-vitæ.