tree

Meaning

Noun

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.
2. Any other plant (such as a large shrub or herb) that is reminiscent of the above in form and size.
3. An object made from a tree trunk and having multiple hooks or storage platforms.
4. A device used to hold or stretch a shoe open.
5. The structural frame of a saddle.
6. A connected graph with no cycles or, if the graph is finite, equivalently a connected graph with n vertices and n−1 edges.
7. A recursive data structure in which each node has zero or more nodes as children.
8. 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.
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. (slang) Marijuana.
12. A cross or gallows.
13. A mass of crystals, aggregated in arborescent forms, obtained by precipitation of a metal from solution.
14. The fifth Lenormand card.
15. Alternative letter-case form of TREE.

Verb

1. To chase (an animal or person) up a tree.
2. To place in a tree.
3. To place upon a tree; to fit with a tree; to stretch upon a tree.
4. To take refuge in a tree.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/tɹiː/

Etymology

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”).
Cognates
From the same Proto-Indo-European: Scots tree (“wood, rod, stick”), North Frisian tre, trä (“tree”), Middle Dutch tree > Dutch teer (“tree”), Danish træ (“tree”), Swedish trä (“wood”), träd (“tree”), Norwegian tre (“tree”), Icelandic tré (“tree”), Gothic 𐍄𐍂𐌹𐌿 (triu, “tree, wood, piece of wood”), Sanskrit दारु (dāru, “tree, wood”), Albanian dru (“tree, wood”), Welsh dâr (“oaks”), Ancient Greek δόρυ (dóru, “wood, spear”), Russian де́рево (dérevo) or дре́во (drévo), Tocharian A or. Related to tar, true.

Sentences

It was no more exciting than an overturned carriage or a tree blown across the road .