tree

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a figure that branches from a single root

   genealogical tree

2. 2
   verb

   chase an animal up a tree

   the hunters treed the bear with dogs and killed it

3. 3
   verb

   plant with trees

   this lot should be treed so that the house will be shaded in summer

4. 4
   noun

   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.

   Hyperion is the tallest living tree in the world.

5. 5
   noun

   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.

6. 6
   noun

   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.

7. 7
   noun

   A device used to hold or stretch a shoe open.

   He put a shoe tree in each of his shoes.

8. 8
   noun

   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.

   We’ll show it as a tree list.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *drew- Proto-Indo-European *-om Proto-Germanic *trewą Proto-West Germanic *treu Old English trēow Middle English tre English tree PIE word *dóru From Middle English trau, tre, tree, treo, treou, trew, trewe, troe, trouȝh, trouȝgh, trow, trowe, from Old English trēo, trēow, trēu, trīo, trīow, trȳw (“tree; wood; forest; beam, cudgel, log; cross”), from Proto-West Germanic *treu, from Proto-Germanic *trewą (“tree”), from pre-Germanic *dréwom, thematic e-grade derivative of Proto-Indo-European *dóru (“tree”). Related to tar, true. Cognates Cognate with Dutch te…