ivy

plural ivies

1. countableuncountableAny of several woody, climbing, or trailing evergreen plants of the genus Hedera.

   Hidden timber elements, lintels and roof tiles have also been replaced, in addition to gaining a new paint job and guttering drainage, and the removal of ivy that was damaging the exterior.

   2023 March 8, “Network News: Pwllheli 'box gets a makeover”, in RAIL, number 978, page 22

2. broadlycountableuncountableAny similar plant of any genus.

plural Ivys · plural Ivies

1. A unisex given name from English.

   Kind people apply all the milder words to your face; only Father ever called it ugly. Ugly Ivy mingy as her name. Father himself was handsome and drunken. Mother had wanted 'Ivy' simple and yet pretty and for once stuck to her guns. You wished she hadn't.

   1974, Patrick White, The Cockatoos: Shorter Novels and Stories., Cape, →ISBN, page 204

   1 more example

   Little Ivy's life, as the months pass on, is a quiet, uneventful one, but exceedingly happy withal: - - - "You have a strange name, my dear," the old lady says one day, and the child answers in her serious, old-fashioned way, "Yes, so everyone has always said. You know my mamma died when I was born, and papa named me that because he said that I came when his heart was all aching with sorrow, and twined around it and comforted him."

   1882 Something to Read. (Edited by) Edwin John Bret: Something to read novelette. page 254

   1. A female given name from English; popular in the UK in the beginning of the 20th century.
   2. rareA male given name from English.

      Ivy Andrews, Ivy Calvin, Ivy Lee

2. rareA diminutive of the male given name Ivan.

   Ivy Olson, Ivy Williamson

3. A surname from English.

plural Ivies

1. informalA university that is part of the Ivy League.