elm

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of various deciduous trees of the genus Ulmus, characteristically having arching or curving branches and serrate leaves with asymmetrical bases. Elms are widely planted as shade trees.
2. n. The wood of one of these trees.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The common name for species of Ulmus (which see), mostly large trees, some common in cultivation for shade and ornament, for which the majestic height and the wide-spreading and gracefully curving branches of the principal kinds admirably adapt them. The hard, heavy timber of most of the species is valuable for many purposes. Of the European species, the common English elm is U. campestris, of which the cork-elm (U. suberosa), with thick plates of cork on the branches, is probably only a variety. The Scotch elm, or witch-elm, U. montana, is a smaller tree than the English elm. The American species are distinguished as the American elm, white elm, or water-elm, U. Americana; the cedar-elm of Texas, U. crassifolia; the cork-, cliff-, hickory-, swamp-, or rock-elm, U. racemosa; the red elm, slippery-elm, or mooseelm, U. fulva, the inner bark of which is mucilaginous, and is used in medicine; and the winged elm, or wahoo, U. alata, with corky-winged branches. In Australia the name is given to the Aphananthe Philippinensis, a species allied to the true elm. In the West Indies Cordia Gerascanthus and C. gerascanthoides, of the order Boraginaceæ, receive the name, as also the rubiaceous Hamelia ventricosa. The wood is the toughest of European woods, and is considered to bear the driving of bolts and nails better than any other. It is very durable under water, and is frequently used for keels of ships, for boat-building, and for many structures exposed to wet, or when great strength is required. Because of its toughness, it is used for naves of wheels, shells for tackle-blocks, and common turnery. Witch-elm is much used by coach-makers, and by ship-builders for making jolly-boats. Rock-elm is much used in boat-building, and to some extent for bows.
2. n. Of other varieties of elm (comprising some trees more or less closely related to the elm and a few belonging to different families but somewhat resembling elms: those given below are among the most important.
3. n. The wing-elm or winged elm. See wahoo,.
4. n. The winged elm, Ulmus alata, so called in Florida and Arkansas.
5. n. Ulmus serotina, a tree of limited distribution on limestone hills and river-banks in southern Kentucky and northern Alabama and Georgia, only recently distinguished from U. fulva, from which it differs in its much smaller fruit, in the absence of mucilage in the inner bark, and in other respects. The wood is reddish in color.

Wiktionary

1. n. a tree of the genus Ulmus of the family Ulmaceae, large deciduous trees with alternate stipulate leaves and small apetalous flowers
2. n. wood from an elm tree

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Bot.) A tree of the genus Ulmus, of several species, much used as a shade tree, particularly in America. The English elm is Ulmus campestris; the common American or white elm is U. Americana; the slippery or red elm, U. fulva.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. hard tough wood of an elm tree; used for e.g. implements and furniture
2. n. any of various trees of the genus Ulmus: important timber or shade trees