oak
Americannoun
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any tree or shrub belonging to the genus Quercus, of the beech family, bearing the acorn as fruit.
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the hard, durable wood of an oak tree, used in making furniture and in construction.
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Archaic. the leaves of an oak tree, especially as worn in a chaplet.
adjective
idioms
noun
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any deciduous or evergreen tree or shrub of the fagaceous genus Quercus, having acorns as fruits and lobed leaves See also holm oak cork oak red oak Turkey oak durmast
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the wood of any of these trees, used esp as building timber and for making furniture
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( as modifier )
an oak table
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any of various trees that resemble the oak, such as the poison oak, silky oak, and Jerusalem oak
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anything made of oak, esp a heavy outer door to a set of rooms in an Oxford or Cambridge college
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to shut this door as a sign one does not want visitors
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the leaves of an oak tree, worn as a garland
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the dark brownish colour of oak wood
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any of various species of casuarina, such as desert oak, swamp oak, or she-oak
Other Word Forms
- oaklike adjective
Etymology
Origin of oak
First recorded before 900; Middle English ok(e), oc, Old English āc; cognate with Dutch eik, German Eiche, Old Icelandic eik; further origin uncertain
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.
Simmons’ property was designed by Swiss architect Roger P. Kurath and is made of “glass, steel, oak wood and concrete elements,” which emphasize the sweeping views of the mountains, valleys, and ocean.
From MarketWatch
Perched upon a wide oak table, among more strange items, Duane spied a snowy owl reading from a large open book.
From Literature
That’s when Papa made a crutch for her out of a red oak limb with a fork on one end.
From Literature
They’ve found dozens of places where deep trenches are planned under oak and pine trees that survived the fire.
From Los Angeles Times
She stares straight ahead— past the giant oak tree, past the stone gargoyle, past the ritzy apartments with the doorman.
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
