box elder

American

noun

a North American maple, Acer negundo, having light gray-brown bark, pinnate, coarsely toothed leaves, and dry, winged fruit, cultivated as a shade tree, and yielding a light, soft wood used in making furniture, woodenware, etc.

box elder British

noun

Also called: ash-leaved maple. a medium-sized fast-growing widely cultivated North American maple, Acer negundo , which has compound leaves with lobed leaflets

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of box elder

An Americanism dating back to 1780–90

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Like the crawl of a black snake, they wound their way beneath tall white sycamores, black gums, birches, and box elders.

From Literature

Invasive shothole borers have sickened at least 65 varieties of SoCal urban trees — such as box elders, maples, willows, sycamores, oaks and cottonwoods — by infesting them with their primary food source, fusarium fungus.

From Los Angeles Times

The canyon is filled with box elders that had not yet leafed out, and above us sandstone cliffs soared like skyscrapers.

From Los Angeles Times

It looks similar to the box elder bug that’s commonly found in Colorado.

From Washington Times

On his list: Using a chainsaw to make a backyard sculpture of a bodybuilder out of the trunk of a dead box elder tree.

From Washington Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023