spindle tree
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Related to spindle tree: Osage River, Euonymus europaeus
spindle tree
n.
See euonymus.
[So called because the wood is often used to make spindles.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
spindle tree
n
(Plants) any of various shrubs or trees of the genus Euonymus, esp E. europaeus, of Europe and W Asia, typically having red fruits and yielding a hard wood formerly used in making spindles: family Celastraceae
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
eu•on•y•mus
(yuˈɒn ə məs)n.
any shrub or vine of the genus Euonymus, of the staff-tree family, usu. having glossy evergreen leaves and clusters of orange or red fruits in open capsules. Also called spindle tree.
[1760–70; < New Latin; Latin, n. use of Greek euṓnymos of good name]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
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| Noun | 1. |  spindle tree - any shrubby trees or woody vines of the genus Euonymus having showy usually reddish berriesEuonymus, genus Euonymus - widely distributed chiefly evergreen shrubs or small trees or vines common spindle tree, Euonymus europaeus - small erect deciduous shrub having tough white wood and cathartic bark and fruit Euonymous alatus, winged spindle tree - bushy deciduous shrub with branches having thin wide corky longitudinal wings; brilliant red in autumn; northeastern Asia to central China |
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