tree

plural trees · obsolete plural treen · alternative obsolete tre

1. A perennial woody plant taller and larger than a shrub with a wooden trunk and, at some distance from the ground, having leaves and branches.

   Birds have a nest in a tree in the garden.

   3 more examples

   Hyperion is the tallest living tree in the world.

   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.

   1992 April 5, “The Full House”, in Jeeves and Wooster, Series 3, Episode 2

   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.

   2019 October, Ian Walmsley, “Cleaning up”, in Modern Railways, page 42

2. Any other plant (such as a large shrub or herb) that is reminiscent of the above in form and size.

   The banana tree is a tall perennial herb: its trunk is not woody.

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 theoryA connected graph with no cycles or, if the graph is finite, equivalently a connected graph with n vertices and n−1 edges.
7. computerA recursive data structure in which each node has zero or more nodes as children, but does not share children with other nodes.
8. computingA 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.

   family tree; skill tree

10. The structure or wooden frame used in the construction of a saddle used in horse riding.
11. in pluraloftenslangMarijuana.

    Everyday man's on the block / Smoke trees (ah)

    2017 September 22, “Man's Not Hot”performed by Big Shaq [Michael Dapaah]

    2 more examples

    I like good pussy and I like good trees / Smoke so much weed you wouldn't believe

    2005, “Shake That”, in Eminem, Nate Dogg (lyrics), Curtain Call: The Hits

    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'?

    2018, “Ace”, in Room 25, performed by Noname ft. Smino & Saba

12. archaic outside ChristianityA cross or gallows.

    Tyburn tree

    5 more examples

    The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.

    1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 5:30

    Ste[phano]. Trinculo, keepe a good tongue in your head: If you proue a mutineere, the next Tree:[…]

    1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 12

    Was it for Crimes that I had done / He groan’d upon the Tree?

    1707, Isaac Watts, “Godly Sorrow ariſing from the Sufferings of Chriſt”, in Hymns and Spiritual Songs, London: J. Humfreys, page 86

    When Jesus died on that tree, he bore the awful curse of the law for us so that we might be saved.

    1997, Warren W. Wiersbe, The Names of Jesus

    Oh, that's not to say Peter's life was easy. In fact, he, too, ended up on a tree—not hung up by guilt, but crucified upside down on a cross for the sake of the One who not only hung on a tree for him, but rose and lived within him, empowering him to live a life of incredible impact and ministry.

    2004, Jon Courson, Jon Courson's Application Commentary, page 1130

13. chemistryA mass of crystals, aggregated in arborescent forms, obtained by precipitation of a metal from solution.
14. cartomancyThe fifth Lenormand card.
15. uncountablemathematicsAlternative letter-case form of TREE.

present singular third person trees · participle present treeing · participle past treed · past treed · alternative obsolete tre

1. transitiveTo chase (an animal or person) up a tree.

   The dog treed the cat.

   2 more examples

   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.

   1897, Henry Howard et al., editors, Encyclopaedia of Sport, volume I, London: Lawrence & Bullen, page 599

   "And our dogs used to tree the cats on our property here, and we'd dispatch them."

   2008, Monte Dwyer, Red In The Centre: The Australian Bush Through Urban Eyes, Monyer Pty Ltd, page 146

2. transitiveTo place in a tree.

   Black bears can tree their cubs for protection, but grizzly bears cannot.

3. transitiveTo place upon a shoe tree; to fit with a shoe tree; to stretch upon a shoe tree.

   to tree a boot

   1 more example

   Two suits and an overcoat hung in the closet over three pairs of carefully treed shoes.

   1930, Dashiell Hammett, chapter 14, in The Maltese Falcon, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, page 165

4. intransitiveTo take refuge in a tree.

1. colloquialpronunciation spellingPronunciation spelling of three

1. uncountablemathematicsAn extremely fast-growing function based on Kruskal's tree theorem.

plural Trees

1. A surname.

1. uncountablemathematicsAlternative letter-case form of TREE.