pine

plural pines · alternative obsolete pyne

1. countableuncountableAny coniferous tree of the genus Pinus.

   The northern slopes were covered mainly in pine.

   3 more examples

   I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.

   1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

   Sepia Delft tiles surrounded the fireplace, their crudely drawn Biblical scenes in faded cyclamen blending with the pinkish pine, while above them, instead of a mantelshelf, there was an archway high enough to form a balcony with slender balusters and a tapestry-hung wall behind.

   1963, Margery Allingham, “Miss Thyrza’s Chair”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 41

   Among the pines grew rowans hung with scarlet berries, and bilberry bushes whose leaves would be fair game for white moth caterpillars in spring. […] The increased vegetation also provides food for the pine martens, red squirrels and mountain hares that MacDonell is seeing in rising numbers, while the population of endangered birds such as crossbills and crested tits has also risen.

   2020 February 25, Christopher de Bellaigue, “The end of farming?”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 06 Jan 2026

   Synonyms: pine tree, pinus

2. countableAny tree (usually coniferous) which resembles a member of this genus in some respect.
3. uncountableThe wood of this tree.

   1 more example

   Give disease, so the swine will marry and propagate lies / Tough luck for elected officials, the beast you see got 50 eyes / Bring it on home, spread the wealth / Play it cool, the hand's been dealt / Now all the odds are in our favor / Save the victory speeches for later / Streets on fire / The mob goes wild, wild, wild / Streets on fire / The mob goes wild / 21 guns, box made of pine / Letter from the government, sealed and signed / Delivered Federal Express / On your mother's doorsteps

   2004, “The Mob Goes Wild”, in Blast Tyrant (Stoner Rock; Hard Rock), performed by Clutch

   Synonyms: pinewood

4. AustraliaGuyanaSouth Africacountableuncountablearchaic except CaribbeanA pineapple.

   Linda carried the oysters in one hand and the pineapple in the other. […] [S]he put the bottle of oysters and the pine on a little carved chair.

   1918 June, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “Prelude”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, chapter 7, pages 38–39

   1 more example

   "[…] I bought a pine-apple at the same time, which I gave to Sambo. Let's have it for tiffin; very cool and nice this hot weather." Rebecca said she had never tasted a pine, and longed beyond everything to taste one.

   1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC

5. colloquialuncountablehobbiesThe bench, where players sit when not playing.

   […] rather than languish on the pine in Miami.

   2013, Sam Zygner, The Forgotten Marlins, page 287

   1 more example

   Take off your gear and hit the pine. And don't take your time. You understand me, boy?

   2019, Martin Copeland, The Boys from Dogtown

6. colloquialuncountableA counter or bartop.

   I'll be behind the pine slinging your favorite cold ones, so come and see me!

plural pines · alternative obsolete pyne

1. archaicA painful longing.

present singular third person pines · participle present pining · participle past pined · past pined · alternative obsolete pyne

1. intransitiveTo languish; to lose flesh or wear away through distress.

   Before I pine away (Pine away)

   2001 May 15, Tool, “Reflection” (track 11), in Lateralus

   5 more examples

   Why pine not I, and die in this distress?

   c. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, →OCLC, Act I

   [T]hou mayſt know / What miſerie th' inabſtinence of Eve / Shall bring on men. Immediately a place / Before his eyes appeard, ſad, noyſom, dark, / A Lazar-houſe it ſeemd, wherein were laid / Numbers all diſeas'd, […] / […] / Dæmoniac Phrenzie, moaping Melancholie / And Moon-ſtruck madneſs, pining Atrophie, / Maraſmus and wide-waſting Peſtilence.

   1674, John Milton, “Book XI”, in Paradise Lost. […], 2nd edition, London: […] S[amuel] Simmons […], →OCLC, pages 299–300

   This night shall see the gaudy wreath decline, The roses wither and the lilies pine.

   170?, Thomas Tickell, To a Lady; With a Present of Flowers

   Long lay the world in sin and error pining / Till He appear’d and the soul felt its worth

   1855, John Sullivan Dwight (translator), “Oh Holy Night”, as printed in 1871, Adolphe-Charles Adam (music), “Cantique de Noël”, G. Schirmer (New York), originally by Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure, 1847

   The way the story went was that the man's foot healed up all right but that he just pined away.

   1994, Walter Dean Myers, The Glory Field, →ISBN, page 29

   Synonyms: languish, droop

2. intransitiveTo long, to yearn so much that it causes suffering.

   Laura was pining for Bill all the time he was gone.

   3 more examples

   Praline: "That parrot is definitely deceased. And when I bought it not half an hour ago you assured me that its lack of movement was due to it being tired and shagged out after a long squawk." Shopkeeper: "It's probably pining for the fiords." Praline: "Pining for the fiords, what kind of talk is that?"

   1969 December 7, Monty Python, “Full Frontal Nudity, Dead Parrot sketch”, in Monty Python's Flying Circus, spoken by shopkeeper and Mr Praline (Michael Palin and John Cleese)

   Ten years ago, liberals pined for a post-religious right, a different culture war. Be careful what you wish for.

   2016 August 14, Ross Douthat, “A Playboy for President”, in The New York Times

   Of the group, Max (Room’s Jacob Tremblay) is the most nominally mature, at least biologically speaking; unlike his childhood companions, he’s entered the early throes of puberty, and spends a lot of his waking hours pining, rather chastely, for a classmate (Millie Davis).

   2019 August 14, A. A. Dowd, “Good Boys Puts a Tween Spin on the R-rated Teen Comedy, to Mostly Funny Effect”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 04 Mar 2021

   Synonyms: long, yearn

3. transitiveTo grieve or mourn for.

   Synonyms: bewail, lament, afterthink, becry, begrieve, bemoan, bemourn, bewail

4. transitiveTo inflict pain upon; to torment.

   Which way, O Lord, which way can I look, and not see some sad examples of misery? […] [O]ne is pined in prison; another, tortured on the rack; a third, languisheth under the loss of a dear son, or wife, or husband.

   1648, Joseph Hall, “The Breathings of the Devout Soul”, in Josiah Pratt, editor, The Works of the Right Reverend Father in God, Joseph Hall, D.D. […], volume VI (Devotional Works), London: […] C[harles] Whittingham, […]; for Williams and Smith, […], published 1808, →OCLC, page 325

   Synonyms: afflict, torment, torture, ache, afflict, aggrieve, agonize, anguish

plural Pines

1. A surname