alder

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   any tree or shrub of the genus Alnus in the birch family, typically growing in cool, moist ground and bearing catkins and small woody cones

   A line of alder grew beside the marshy stream.

2. 2
   noun

   the soft, workable wood of an alder tree

   The cabinetmaker chose alder for the drawer fronts.

Common collocations

• alder tree Noun + noun

Inherited from Middle English alder or aldre, from Old English alor, and ultimately from a Germanic tree name also reflected in Old High German elira. Alder by itself names both the Alnus tree or shrub and its wood, so alder tree is a transparent expanded form rather than a separate botanical lexeme.

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images