Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of numerous tropical trees, shrubs, or climbers of the genus Ficus, having pearlike multiple fruits.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In botany, a very large genus of tropical and subtropical trees or shrubs, of the urticaceous tribe Artocarpeæ, characterized by bearing their minute unisexual flowers within a nearly closed globose or pear-shaped receptacle. The genus is remarkable for the peculiar arrangement by which cross-fertilization is effected through the agency of insects. There are always three forms of flowers, the staminate, the pistillate, and a third, the gall-flower, which resembles the pistillate but is incapable of fertilization, and is usually occupied by the pupa of a species of Blastophaga or other hymenopterous insect. In a large group of species the three forms are found within the same receptacle; but in much the larger number, as in the common fig, the female flowers are in one receptacle and the male and gall flowers together in another. The perfect insect is formed synchronously with the maturity of the pollen of the male flowers, through which it makes its way and escapes by a perforation made at the apex of the receptacle. In what way it conveys the pollen to the pistillate flowers in the closed female receptacle is not understood, but it is believed that it is done, and that by this means only the female flowers are fertilized. Generally the barren and fertile receptacles are upon the same tree and are similar in appearance, but in the common fig they are upon separate trees, and differ so much in form that the sterile, known as the wild fig or caprifig, has been considered by many botanists as a species distinct from the other. There are about 600 species, the greater number belonging to the islands of the Indian and Pacific oceans, though there are many in tropical America. Three or four species are found in Florida. The genus includes the common fig (F. Carica), the banian (F. Bengalensis), the india-rubber tree (F. elastica), etc. The wood is generally soft and valueless. See
fig , and cut underbanian . - n. In zoology, an old genus of mollusks: same as Pyrula.
- n. In surgery, a fleshy excrescence, often soft and reddish, sometimes hard, hanging by a peduncle or formed like a fig. It occurs on the eyelids, chin, tongue, anus, or reproductive organs. Also called fig-wart.
Wiktionary
- n. botany A plant belonging to the genus Ficus, including the rubber plant.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A genus of trees or shrubs, one species of which (F. Carica) produces the figs of commerce; the fig tree.
WordNet 3.0
- n. large genus of tropical trees or shrubs or climbers including fig trees
Etymologies
- From Latin fīcus ("fig") (Wiktionary)
- Latin fīcus, fig. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“In the Southern California version the guy is fondling a ficus, which is not grass.”
“Order was soon restored by the interpreter; both sexes and all ages crowded round me with hootings of wonder, and, when they had stared their fill, allowed me to sit down under a kind of ficus, not unlike the banyan-tree (Ficus Indica).”
“So this venue, with its white Christmas lights, deer heads on the walls, and hideous plastic ficus trees along the perimeter of the space, was not going to work.”
“Along the shore are ceiba and banana and ficus, and bright emerald clusters of sea lettuce (Chlorophyta), water hyacinth, giant mango trees, the fruit tree called poponjoche, and the bright-blossomed national flower, the Sacuanjocheink.”
“To understand how the Birkman differs from the many other workplace assessments that describe or "label" people, consider a landscaper who can tell you that one of your plants is a cactus and the other is a ficus.”
“Jennifer: (lowest possible tone) I wonder if Ms. Pelosi knows that the “Joe guy” that yelled at the President is standing behind a ficus tree over there in the corner?”
“The area is surrounded by ficus trees "so it doesn't look like it's an industrial site," says Mr. Dunn.”
“Did you call up a detailed picture of yourself hoisting your coffee, with the ficus tree behind your head and the toaster to your left, while a glimpse of a loved one's elbow intrudes into the image from the other side?”
The Washington Post: Art review: 'Fiona Tan: Rise and Fall' at the Smithsonian's Sackler Gallery
“Further on, we come upon a tarantula the size of my open hand, perched on the trunk of a ficus tree.”
“There were large pots with ficus trees and smaller ones with spider plants or cacti set here and there.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ficus’.
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Malachi_Constant's Words
triumverate, pandemic, parsnip, delineate, zamboni, parka, laser, swoop, malevolent, benevolent, fracas, tipsy and 372 more...
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Flora
fenugreek, verbena, saxifrage, arbutus, calendula, nasturtium, lobelia, hellebore, rhododendron, philodendron, bellflower, heuchera and 449 more...
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Flora and Fauna
poa annua, pooka, vole, bestiary, popple, turgor, starling, sharpy, copse, coreopsis, clove, corvid and 348 more...
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silly, silly words
besnotted, skedaddle, humdinger, pamplemousse, pantalones, underpants gnomes, underoos, herpes zoster, possums, meat slurry, sausage, peevish and 256 more...
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slevenback's Words
cabal, opiate, jib, concise, cogent, pique, y'all, reckon, rassle, ficus, pecan, kindling and 72 more...
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fissionchips's Words
solipsism, milquetoast, defenestrate, picayune, geoduck, logorrhea, piquancy, quixotry, feculent, gnomic, parsimonious, panglossian and 25 more...
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ogham
birch, rowan, alder, willow, ash, hawthorn, oak, holly, hazel, apple, blackthorn, elder and 79 more...
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savory words
If I had synesthesia, I'd bet these words would be gorgeous. Or is it delicious. I'm not quite sure.
recipe, bulbous, bouffant, gazebo, gabardine, indubitably, chocolate, abattoir, insouciant, syphillis, portmanteau, macadamia and 21 more...
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mwatso2's Words
wretched, penchant, restive, kibble, ficus, trouser, pants, brazen, silt
Tweets
Looking for tweets for ficus.

chained_bear Jennarenn, when your prodigal brother returned home, perhaps? Jan 18, 2009
mollusque Also a genus of mollusks corresponding to fig shells. Jan 17, 2009
jennarenn Ah, the ficus. My mom used to kill one every couple of years. Jan 17, 2009
marco_nj clearly underrated Jan 17, 2009