(~s)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
A ~ is a tall plant that has a hard trunk, branches, and leaves.
I planted those apple ~s.
...a variety of shrubs and ~s.
N-COUNT: oft n N
see also Christmas ~ , family ~
2.
If you say that someone is barking up the wrong ~, you mean that they are following the wrong course of action because their beliefs or ideas about something are incorrect. (INFORMAL)
Scientists in Switzerland realised that most other researchers had been barking up the wrong ~.
PHRASE: V inflects, usu cont
3.
If someone can’t see the wood for the ~s in British English, or can’t see the forest for the ~s in American English, they are very involved in the details of something and so they do not notice what is important about the thing as a whole.
PHRASE: V inflects
4.
the top of the ~: see top