noun
: any of several maples having a sweet sap ; specifically : a maple ( Acer saccharum ) of eastern No. America having gray bark, 3- to 5-lobed leaves, flowers in nearly sessile corymbs, and hard close-grained wood that is much used for cabinetwork especially in the curly-grained form and having sap that is the chief source of maple syrup and maple sugar — see bird's-eye maple; tree illustration