Definitions for: Oak


[n] a deciduous tree of the genus Quercus; has acorns and lobed leaves; "great oaks grow from little acorns"
[n] the hard durable wood of any oak; used especially for furniture and flooring
[adj] consisting of or made of wood of the oak tree; "a solid oak table"; "the old oaken bucket"



Webster (1913) Definition: Oak ([=o]k), n. [OE. oke, ok, ak, AS. [=a]c; akin to D.
eik, G. eiche, OHG. eih, Icel. eik, Sw. ek, Dan. eeg.]
1. (Bot.) Any tree or shrub of the genus Quercus. The oaks
have alternate leaves, often variously lobed, and
staminate flowers in catkins. The fruit is a smooth nut,
called an acorn, which is more or less inclosed in a
scaly involucre called the cup or cupule. There are now
recognized about three hundred species, of which nearly
fifty occur in the United States, the rest in Europe,
Asia, and the other parts of North America, a very few
barely reaching the northern parts of South America and
Africa. Many of the oaks form forest trees of grand
proportions and live many centuries. The wood is usually
hard and tough, and provided with conspicuous medullary
rays, forming the silver grain.

2. The strong wood or timber of the oak.

Note: Among the true oaks in America are:

Barren oak, or

Black-jack, Q. nigra.

Basket oak, Q. Michauxii.

Black oak, Q. tinctoria; -- called also yellow or
quercitron oak.

Bur oak (see under Bur.), Q. macrocarpa; -- called also
over-cup or mossy-cup oak.

Chestnut oak, Q. Prinus and Q. densiflora.

Chinquapin oak (see under Chinquapin), Q. prinoides.

Coast live oak, Q. agrifolia, of California; -- also
called enceno.

Live oak (see under Live), Q. virens, the best of all
for shipbuilding; also, Q. Chrysolepis, of California.


Pin oak. Same as Swamp oak.

Post oak, Q. obtusifolia.

Red oak, Q. rubra.

Scarlet oak, Q. coccinea.

Scrub oak, Q. ilicifolia, Q. undulata, etc.

Shingle oak, Q. imbricaria.

Spanish oak, Q. falcata.

Swamp Spanish oak, or

Pin oak, Q. palustris.

Swamp white oak, Q. bicolor.

Water oak, Q. aguatica.

Water white oak, Q. lyrata.

Willow oak, Q. Phellos. Among the true oaks in Europe
are:

Bitter oak, or

Turkey oak, Q. Cerris (see Cerris).

Cork oak, Q. Suber.

English white oak, Q. Robur.

Evergreen oak,

Holly oak, or

Holm oak, Q. Ilex.

Kermes oak, Q. coccifera.

Nutgall oak, Q. infectoria.

Note: Among plants called oak, but not of the genus
Quercus, are:

African oak, a valuable timber tree ({Oldfieldia
Africana}).

Australian, or She, oak, any tree of the genus
Casuarina (see Casuarina).

Indian oak, the teak tree (see Teak).

Jerusalem oak. See under Jerusalem.

New Zealand oak, a sapindaceous tree ({Alectryon
excelsum}).

Poison oak, the poison ivy. See under Poison.



Silky, or Silk-bark, oak, an Australian tree ({Grevillea
robusta}).

Green oak, oak wood colored green by the growth of the
mycelium of certain fungi.

Oak apple, a large, smooth, round gall produced on the
leaves of the American red oak by a gallfly ({Cynips
confluens}). It is green and pulpy when young.

Oak beauty (Zo["o]l.), a British geometrid moth ({Biston
prodromaria}) whose larva feeds on the oak.

Oak gall, a gall found on the oak. See 2d Gall.

Oak leather (Bot.), the mycelium of a fungus which forms
leatherlike patches in the fissures of oak wood.

Oak pruner. (Zo["o]l.) See Pruner, the insect.

Oak spangle, a kind of gall produced on the oak by the
insect Diplolepis lenticularis.

Oak wart, a wartlike gall on the twigs of an oak.

The Oaks, one of the three great annual English horse races
(the Derby and St. Leger being the others). It was
instituted in 1779 by the Earl of Derby, and so called
from his estate.

To sport one's oak, to be ``not at home to visitors,''
signified by closing the outer (oaken) door of one's
rooms. [Cant, Eng. Univ.]

Synonyms: oak tree, oaken, woody

See Also: acorn, American turkey oak, black oak, bluejack oak, box white oak, brash oak, California black oak, chestnut oak, Chinese cork oak, cork oak, European turkey oak, evergreen oak, fumed oak, genus Quercus, holly-leaved oak, holm oak, holm tree, iron oak, jack oak, Japanese oak, laurel oak, live oak, northern pin oak, Nuttall oak, Nuttall's oak, oak, overcup oak, pin oak, possum oak, post oak, quercitron, quercitron oak, Quercus, Quercus cerris, Quercus coccinea, Quercus ellipsoidalis, Quercus grosseserrata, Quercus ilex, Quercus imbricaria, Quercus incana, Quercus kelloggii, Quercus laevis, Quercus laurifolia, Quercus lyrata, Quercus mongolica, Quercus nigra, Quercus nuttalli, Quercus palustris, Quercus phellos, Quercus stellata, Quercus suber, Quercus texana, Quercus variabilis, Quercus velutina, red oak, scarlet oak, scrub oak, shingle oak, Spanish oak, swamp oak, tree, turkey oak, water oak, white oak, willow oak, wood, yellow oak

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