/ triː; NAmE / noun
a tall plant that can live a long time. Trees have a thick central wooden stem (the trunk ) from which branches grow, usually with leaves on them :
an oak tree
to plant a tree
to chop / cut down a tree
They followed a path through the trees.
—compare bush , shrub
—see also bay tree , Christmas tree , family tree , gum tree , plane tree
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IDIOMS
- be out of your tree
—more at apple noun , bark verb , forest , grow , top noun , wood
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WORD ORIGIN
Old English trēow , trēo : from a Germanic variant of an Indo-European root shared by Greek doru wood, spear, drus oak.