tree |tr?|
noun
1 a woody perennial plant, typically having a single stem or trunk growing to a considerable height and bearing lateral branches at some distance from the ground. Leaves of familiar trees of North America
Compare with shrub 1 .
• (in general use) any bush, shrub, or herbaceous plant with a tall erect stem, e.g., a banana plant.
2 a wooden structure or part of a structure.
• archaic or poetic/literary the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified.
• archaic a gallows or gibbet.
3 a thing that has a branching structure resembling that of a tree.
• (also tree diagram) a diagram with a structure of branching connecting lines, representing different processes and relationships.
verb ( trees , treed , treeing ) [ trans. ]
force (a hunted animal) to take refuge in a tree.
• informal force (someone) into a difficult situation.
PHRASES
out of one's tree informal completely stupid; insane.
up a tree informal in a difficult situation without escape; cornered.
ORIGIN Old English tr?ow, tr?o: from a Germanic variant of an Indo-European root shared by Greek doru ‘wood, spear,’ drus ‘oak.’