juniper

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of various evergreen trees or shrubs of the genus Juniperus, having needlelike or scalelike, often pointed leaves and aromatic, bluish-gray, berrylike, seed-bearing cones.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. coniferous evergreen shrub or tree, belonging to the genus Juniperus. There are about 30 species, distributed through the northern parts of the globe or on mountains further south. J. communis, the common juniper of Europe and North America, is a spreading shrub or small tree, whose purple aromatic berries yield a volatile oil used as a diuretic and stimulant and also in the manufacture of gin. J. Sabina of southern Europe, the true savin, is a small tree whose tops form the officinal savin. J.Virginiana, the North American red cedar or pencil-cedar, is a generally small but sometimes large tree, yielding a fragrant, light, imperishable wood, highly valued for pencil-making, cabinet-work, posts, etc. The wood of J. Bermudiana serves similar purposes. (See cedar.) (For botanical characters, see Juniperus.) The name is locally applied to other trees, the so-called juniper-swamps of the southern United States consisting of the white cedar, Chamœcyparis sphœroidea.
2. Bitter; sharp; severe.
3. n. The American larch, Larix laricina.
4. n. The black spruce, Picea Mariana.
5. n. The ground-hemlock, Taxus Canadensis.

Wiktionary

1. n. any shrub or tree of the genus Juniperus of the cypress family; characterized by pointed, needle-like leaves and aromatic berry-like cones.
2. n. certain coniferous trees which resemble junipers.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Bot.) Any evergreen shrub or tree, of the genus Juniperus and order Coniferæ.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. desert shrub of Syria and Arabia having small white flowers; constitutes the juniper of the Old Testament; sometimes placed in genus Genista
2. n. coniferous shrub or small tree with berrylike cones