|
|
Dictionary definition: tree
- Article from:
- The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
- Author:
Copyright© The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable 2006, originally published by Oxford University Press 2006. (Hide copyright information)
|
tree
a tree is sometimes taken as the type of height and strength. In poetic use, the word may refer to the cross on which Christ was crucified; the word may also be used for the gallows.
From Middle English, the word has also been used for a genealogical table or
family tree
, in which the original ancestor is seen as the root, and the various lines of descent as the branches.
The word is recorded from Old English (in form
trēow
,
trēo
), and comes from a Germanic variant of an Indo-European root shared by Greek
doru
‘wood, spear’,
drus
‘oak’.
as a tree falls, so shall it lie proverbial saying; mid 16th century, meaning that one should not change ...