Tree n.
 1. Bot. Any perennial woody plant of considerable size (usually over twenty feet high) and growing with a single trunk.
 Note: ☞ The kind of tree referred to, in any particular case, is often indicated by a modifying word; as forest tree, fruit tree, palm tree, apple tree, pear tree, etc.
 2. Something constructed in the form of, or considered as resembling, a tree, consisting of a stem, or stock, and branches; as, a genealogical tree.
 3. A piece of timber, or something commonly made of timber; -- used in composition, as in axletree, boottree, chesstree, crosstree, whiffletree, and the like.
 4. A cross or gallows; as Tyburn tree.
    [Jesus] whom they slew and hanged on a tree.   --Acts x. 39.
 5. Wood; timber. [Obs.]
    In a great house ben not only vessels of gold and of silver but also of tree and of earth.   --Wyclif (2 Tim. ii. 20).
 6. Chem. A mass of crystals, aggregated in arborescent forms, obtained by precipitation of a metal from solution. See Lead tree, under Lead.
 Tree bear Zool., the raccoon. [Local, U. S.]
 Tree beetle Zool. any one of numerous species of beetles which feed on the leaves of trees and shrubs, as the May beetles, the rose beetle, the rose chafer, and the goldsmith beetle.
 Tree bug Zool., any one of numerous species of hemipterous insects which live upon, and suck the sap of, trees and shrubs. They belong to Arma, Pentatoma, Rhaphigaster, and allied genera.
 Tree cat Zool., the common paradoxure (Paradoxurus musang).
 Tree clover Bot., a tall kind of melilot (Melilotus alba). See Melilot.
 Tree crab Zool., the purse crab. See under Purse.
 Tree creeper Zool., any one of numerous species of arboreal creepers belonging to Certhia, Climacteris, and allied genera. See Creeper, 3.
 Tree cricket Zool., a nearly white arboreal American cricket (Ecanthus nivœus) which is noted for its loud stridulation; -- called also white cricket.
 Tree crow Zool., any one of several species of Old World crows belonging to Crypsirhina and allied genera, intermediate between the true crows and the jays. The tail is long, and the bill is curved and without a tooth.
 Tree dove Zool. any one of several species of East Indian and Asiatic doves belonging to Macropygia and allied genera. They have long and broad tails, are chiefly arboreal in their habits, and feed mainly on fruit.
 Tree duck Zool., any one of several species of ducks belonging to Dendrocygna and allied genera. These ducks have a long and slender neck and a long hind toe. They are arboreal in their habits, and are found in the tropical parts of America, Africa, Asia, and Australia.
 Tree fern Bot., an arborescent fern having a straight trunk, sometimes twenty or twenty-five feet high, or even higher, and bearing a cluster of fronds at the top. Most of the existing species are tropical.
 Tree fish Zool., a California market fish (Sebastichthys serriceps).
 Tree frog. Zool. (a) Same as Tree toad. (b) Any one of numerous species of Old World frogs belonging to Chiromantis, Rhacophorus, and allied genera of the family Ranidae. Their toes are furnished with suckers for adhesion. The flying frog (see under Flying) is an example.
 Tree goose Zool., the bernicle goose.
 Tree hopper Zool., any one of numerous species of small leaping hemipterous insects which live chiefly on the branches and twigs of trees, and injure them by sucking the sap. Many of them are very odd in shape, the prothorax being often prolonged upward or forward in the form of a spine or crest.
 Tree jobber Zool., a woodpecker. [Obs.]
 Tree kangaroo. Zool. See Kangaroo.
 Tree lark Zool., the tree pipit. [Prov. Eng.]
 Tree lizard Zool., any one of a group of Old World arboreal lizards (formerly grouped as the Dendrosauria) comprising the chameleons; also applied to various lizards belonging to the families Agamidae or Iguanidae, especially those of the genus Urosaurus, such as the lined tree lizard (Urosaurus ornatus) of the southwestern U.S.
 Tree lobster. Zool. Same as Tree crab, above.
 Tree louse Zool., any aphid; a plant louse.
 Tree moss. Bot. (a) Any moss or lichen growing on trees. (b) Any species of moss in the form of a miniature tree.
 Tree mouse Zool., any one of several species of African mice of the subfamily Dendromyinae. They have long claws and habitually live in trees.
 Tree nymph, a wood nymph. See Dryad.
 Tree of a saddle, a saddle frame.
 Tree of heaven Bot., an ornamental tree (Ailantus glandulosus) having long, handsome pinnate leaves, and greenish flowers of a disagreeable odor.
 Tree of life Bot., a tree of the genus Thuja; arbor vitae.
 Tree onion Bot., a species of garlic (Allium proliferum) which produces bulbs in place of flowers, or among its flowers.
 Tree oyster Zool., a small American oyster (Ostrea folium) which adheres to the roots of the mangrove tree; -- called also raccoon oyster.
 Tree pie Zool., any species of Asiatic birds of the genus Dendrocitta. The tree pies are allied to the magpie.
 Tree pigeon Zool., any one of numerous species of longwinged arboreal pigeons native of Asia, Africa, and Australia, and belonging to Megaloprepia, Carpophaga, and allied genera.
 Tree pipit. Zool. See under Pipit.
 Tree porcupine Zool., any one of several species of Central and South American arboreal porcupines belonging to the genera Chaetomys and Sphingurus.  They have an elongated and somewhat prehensile tail, only four toes on the hind feet, and a body covered with short spines mixed with bristles.  One South American species (Sphingurus villosus) is called also couiy; another (Sphingurus prehensilis) is called also cœndou.
 Tree rat Zool., any one of several species of large ratlike West Indian rodents belonging to the genera Capromys and Plagiodon. They are allied to the porcupines.
 Tree serpent Zool., a tree snake.
 Tree shrike Zool., a bush shrike.
 Tree snake Zool., any one of numerous species of snakes of the genus Dendrophis. They live chiefly among the branches of trees, and are not venomous.
 Tree sorrel Bot., a kind of sorrel (Rumex Lunaria) which attains the stature of a small tree, and bears greenish flowers.  It is found in the Canary Islands and Tenerife.
 Tree sparrow Zool. any one of several species of small arboreal sparrows, especially the American tree sparrow (Spizella monticola), and the common European species (Passer montanus).
 Tree swallow Zool., any one of several species of swallows of the genus Hylochelidon which lay their eggs in holes in dead trees. They inhabit Australia and adjacent regions. Called also martin in Australia.
 Tree swift Zool., any one of several species of swifts of the genus Dendrochelidon which inhabit the East Indies and Southern Asia.
 Tree tiger Zool., a leopard.
 Tree toad Zool., any one of numerous species of amphibians belonging to Hyla and allied genera of the family Hylidae. They are related to the common frogs and toads, but have the tips of the toes expanded into suckers by means of which they cling to the bark and leaves of trees.  Only one species (Hyla arborea) is found in Europe, but numerous species occur in America and Australia.  The common tree toad of the Northern United States (Hyla versicolor) is noted for the facility with which it changes its colors.  Called also tree frog. See also Piping frog, under Piping, and Cricket frog, under Cricket.
 Tree warbler Zool., any one of several species of arboreal warblers belonging to Phylloscopus and allied genera.
 Tree wool Bot., a fine fiber obtained from the leaves of pine trees.


 White a. [Compar. Whiter superl. Whitest.]
 1. Reflecting to the eye all the rays of the spectrum combined; not tinted with any of the proper colors or their mixtures; having the color of pure snow; snowy; -- the opposite of black or dark; as, white paper; a white skin.  “Pearls white.”
    White as the whitest lily on a stream.   --Longfellow.
 2. Destitute of color, as in the cheeks, or of the tinge of blood color; pale; pallid; as, white with fear.
 Or whispering with white lips, “The foe!
 They come! they come!”   --Byron.
 3. Having the color of purity; free from spot or blemish, or from guilt or pollution; innocent; pure.
    White as thy fame, and as thy honor clear.   --Dryden.
    No whiter page than Addison's remains.   --Pope.
 4. Gray, as from age; having silvery hair; hoary.
 Your high engendered battles 'gainst a head
 So old and white as this.   --Shak.
 5. Characterized by freedom from that which disturbs, and the like; fortunate; happy; favorable.
    On the whole, however, the dominie reckoned this as one of the white days of his life.   --Sir W. Scott.
 6. Regarded with especial favor; favorite; darling.
    Come forth, my white spouse.   --Chaucer.
    I am his white boy, and will not be gullet.   --Ford.
 Note: ☞ White is used in many self-explaining compounds, as white-backed, white-bearded, white-footed.
 White alder. Bot. See Sweet pepper bush, under Pepper.
 White ant Zool., any one of numerous species of social pseudoneuropterous insects of the genus Termes. These insects are very abundant in tropical countries, and form large and complex communities consisting of numerous asexual workers of one or more kinds, of large-headed asexual individuals called soldiers, of one or more queens (or fertile females) often having the body enormously distended by the eggs, and, at certain seasons of numerous winged males, together with the larvae and pupae of each kind in various stages of development. Many of the species construct large and complicated nests, sometimes in the form of domelike structures rising several feet above the ground and connected with extensive subterranean galleries and chambers. In their social habits they closely resemble the true ants. They feed upon animal and vegetable substances of various kinds, including timber, and are often very destructive to buildings and furniture.
 White arsenic Chem., arsenious oxide, As2O3, a substance of a white color, and vitreous adamantine luster, having an astringent, sweetish taste. It is a deadly poison.
 White bass Zool., a fresh-water North American bass (Roccus chrysops) found in the Great Likes.
 White bear Zool., the polar bear.  See under Polar.
 White blood cell. Physiol. See Leucocyte.
 White brand Zool., the snow goose.
 White brass, a white alloy of copper; white copper.
 White campion. Bot. (a) A kind of catchfly (Silene stellata) with white flowers. (b) A white-flowered Lychnis (Lychnis vespertina).
 White canon R. C. Ch., a Premonstratensian.
 White caps, the members of a secret organization in various of the United States, who attempt to drive away or reform obnoxious persons by lynch-law methods. They appear masked in white.  Their actions resembled those of the Ku Klux Klan in some ways but they were not formally affiliated with the Klan, and their victims were often not black.
 White cedar Bot., an evergreen tree of North America (Thuja occidentalis), also the related Cupressus thyoides, or Chamaecyparis sphaeroidea, a slender evergreen conifer which grows in the so-called cedar swamps of the Northern and Atlantic States.  Both are much valued for their durable timber.  In California the name is given to the Libocedrus decurrens, the timber of which is also useful, though often subject to dry rot. --Goodale. The white cedar of Demerara, Guiana, etc., is a lofty tree (Icica altissima syn. Bursera altissima) whose fragrant wood is used for canoes and cabinetwork, as it is not attacked by insect.
 White cell. Physiol. See Leucocyte.
 White cell-blood Med., leucocythaemia.
 White clover Bot., a species of small perennial clover bearing white flowers. It furnishes excellent food for cattle and horses, as well as for the honeybee.  See also under Clover.
 White copper, a whitish alloy of copper.  See German silver, under German.
 White copperas Min., a native hydrous sulphate of iron; coquimbite.
 White coral Zool., an ornamental branched coral (Amphihelia oculata) native of the Mediterranean.
 White corpuscle. Physiol. See Leucocyte.
 White cricket Zool., the tree cricket.
 White crop, a crop of grain which loses its green color, or becomes white, in ripening, as wheat, rye, barley, and oats, as distinguished from a green crop, or a root crop.
 White currant Bot., a variety of the common red currant, having white berries.
 White daisy Bot., the oxeye daisy.  See under Daisy.
 White damp, a kind of poisonous gas encountered in coal mines. --Raymond.
 White elephant Zool., (a) a whitish, or albino, variety of the Asiatic elephant. (b) see white elephant in the vocabulary.
 White elm Bot., a majestic tree of North America (Ulmus Americana), the timber of which is much used for hubs of wheels, and for other purposes.
 White ensign. See Saint George's ensign, under Saint.
 White feather, a mark or symbol of cowardice.  See To show the white feather, under Feather, n.
 White fir Bot., a name given to several coniferous trees of the Pacific States, as Abies grandis, and Abies concolor.
 White flesher Zool., the ruffed grouse.  See under Ruffed. [Canada]
 White frost. See Hoarfrost.
 White game Zool., the white ptarmigan.
 White garnet Min., leucite.
 White grass Bot., an American grass (Leersia Virginica) with greenish-white paleae.
 White grouse. Zool. (a) The white ptarmigan. (b) The prairie chicken. [Local, U. S.]
 White grub Zool., the larva of the June bug and other allied species. These grubs eat the roots of grasses and other plants, and often do much damage.
 White hake Zool., the squirrel hake.  See under Squirrel.
 White hawk, or White kite Zool., the hen harrier.
 White heat, the temperature at which bodies become incandescent, and appear white from the bright light which they emit.
 White hellebore Bot., a plant of the genus Veratrum (Veratrum album) See Hellebore, 2.
 White herring, a fresh, or unsmoked, herring, as distinguished from a red, or cured, herring. [R.] --Shak.
 White hoolet Zool., the barn owl. [Prov. Eng.]
 White horses Naut., white-topped waves; whitecaps.
 The White House. See under House.
 White ibis Zool., an American ibis (Guara alba) having the plumage pure white, except the tips of the wings, which are black. It inhabits tropical America and the Southern United States. Called also Spanish curlew.
 White iron. (a) Thin sheets of iron coated with tin; tinned iron. (b) A hard, silvery-white cast iron containing a large proportion of combined carbon.
 White iron pyrites Min., marcasite.
 White land, a tough clayey soil, of a whitish hue when dry, but blackish after rain. [Eng.]
 White lark Zool., the snow bunting.
 White lead. (a) A carbonate of lead much used in painting, and for other purposes; ceruse. (b) Min. Native lead carbonate; cerusite.
 White leather, buff leather; leather tanned with alum and salt.
 White leg Med., milk leg.  See under Milk.
 White lettuce Bot., rattlesnake root.  See under Rattlesnake.
 White lie. See under Lie.
 White light. (a) Physics Light having the different colors in the same proportion as in the light coming directly from the sun, without having been decomposed, as by passing through a prism.  See the Note under Color, n., 1. (b) A kind of firework which gives a brilliant white illumination for signals, etc.
 White lime, a solution or preparation of lime for whitewashing; whitewash.
 White line Print., a void space of the breadth of a line, on a printed page; a blank line.
 White meat. (a) Any light-colored flesh, especially of poultry. (b) Food made from milk or eggs, as butter, cheese, etc.
    Driving their cattle continually with them, and feeding only upon their milk and white meats.   --Spenser.
 -- White merganser Zool., the smew.
 White metal. (a) Any one of several white alloys, as pewter, britannia, etc. (b) Metal. A fine grade of copper sulphide obtained at a certain stage in copper smelting.
 White miller. Zool. (a) The common clothes moth. (b) A common American bombycid moth (Spilosoma Virginica) which is pure white with a few small black spots; -- called also ermine moth, and virgin moth.  See Woolly bear, under Woolly.
 White money, silver money.
 White mouse Zool., the albino variety of the common mouse.
 White mullet Zool., a silvery mullet (Mugil curema) ranging from the coast of the United States to Brazil; -- called also blue-back mullet, and liza.
 White nun Zool., the smew; -- so called from the white crest and the band of black feathers on the back of its head, which give the appearance of a hood.
 White oak. Bot. See under Oak.
 White owl. Zool. (a) The snowy owl. (b) The barn owl.
 White partridge Zool., the white ptarmigan.
 White perch. Zool. (a) A North American fresh-water bass (Morone Americana) valued as a food fish. (b) The croaker, or fresh-water drum. (c) Any California surf fish.
 White pine. Bot. See the Note under Pine.
 White poplar Bot., a European tree (Populus alba) often cultivated as a shade tree in America; abele.
 White poppy Bot., the opium-yielding poppy.  See Poppy.
 White powder, a kind of gunpowder formerly believed to exist, and to have the power of exploding without noise. [Obs.]
    A pistol charged with white powder.   --Beau. & Fl.
 -- White precipitate. Old Chem. See under Precipitate.
 White rabbit. Zool. (a) The American northern hare in its winter pelage. (b) An albino rabbit.
 White rent, (a) Eng. Law Formerly, rent payable in silver; -- opposed to black rent.  See Blackmail, n., 3. (b) A rent, or duty, of eight pence, payable yearly by every tinner in Devon and Cornwall to the Duke of Cornwall, as lord of the soil. [Prov. Eng.]
 White rhinoceros. Zool. (a) The one-horned, or Indian, rhinoceros (Rhinoceros Indicus).  See Rhinoceros. (b) The umhofo.
 White ribbon, the distinctive badge of certain organizations for the promotion of temperance or of moral purity; as, the White-ribbon Army.
 White rope Naut., untarred hemp rope.
 White rot. Bot. (a) Either of several plants, as marsh pennywort and butterwort, which were thought to produce the disease called rot in sheep. (b) A disease of grapes.  See White rot, under Rot.
 White sage Bot., a white, woolly undershrub (Eurotia lanata) of Western North America; -- called also winter fat.
 White salmon Zool., the silver salmon.
 White salt, salt dried and calcined; decrepitated salt.
 White scale Zool., a scale insect (Aspidiotus Nerii) injurious to the orange tree.  See Orange scale, under Orange.
 White shark Zool., a species of man-eating shark. See under Shark.
 White softening. Med. See Softening of the brain, under Softening.
 White spruce. Bot. See Spruce, n., 1.
 White squall Naut., a sudden gust of wind, or furious blow, which comes up without being marked in its approach otherwise than by whitecaps, or white, broken water, on the surface of the sea.
 White staff, the badge of the lord high treasurer of England. --Macaulay.
 White stork Zool., the common European stork.
 White sturgeon. Zool. See Shovelnose (d).
 White sucker. Zool. (a) The common sucker. (b) The common red horse (Moxostoma macrolepidotum).
 White swelling Med., a chronic swelling of the knee, produced by a strumous inflammation of the synovial membranes of the kneejoint and of the cancellar texture of the end of the bone forming the kneejoint; -- applied also to a lingering chronic swelling of almost any kind.
 White tombac. See Tombac.
 White trout Zool., the white weakfish, or silver squeteague (Cynoscion nothus), of the Southern United States.
 White vitriol Chem., hydrous sulphate of zinc.  See White vitriol, under Vitriol.
 White wagtail Zool., the common, or pied, wagtail.
 White wax, beeswax rendered white by bleaching.
 White whale Zool., the beluga.
 White widgeon Zool., the smew.
 White wine. any wine of a clear, transparent color, bordering on white, as Madeira, sherry, Lisbon, etc.; -- distinguished from wines of a deep red color, as port and Burgundy.  “White wine of Lepe.” --Chaucer.
 White witch, a witch or wizard whose supernatural powers are supposed to be exercised for good and beneficent purposes. --Addison.  --Cotton Mather.
 White wolf. Zool. (a) A light-colored wolf (Canis laniger) native of Thibet; -- called also chanco, golden wolf, and Thibetan wolf. (b) The albino variety of the gray wolf.
 White wren Zool., the willow warbler; -- so called from the color of the under parts.