Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of various deciduous trees of the genus Platanus, especially P. occidentalis of eastern North America, having palmately lobed leaves, ball-like, nodding, hairy fruit clusters, and bark that flakes off in large colorful patches. Also called buttonball, buttonwood.
- n. A Eurasian deciduous maple tree (Acer pseudoplatanus) having palmately lobed leaves, winged fruits, and greenish flowers.
- n. A fig tree (Ficus sycomorus) of Africa and adjacent southwest Asia, mentioned in the Bible, having clusters of figs borne on short leafless twigs.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The sycamore-fig, Ficus Sycomorus, growing in the lowlands of Syria, Egypt, and elsewhere. It is a spreading tree, 30 or 40 feet high, with leaves somewhat like those of the mulberry, and fruit borne in clusters on the trunk and main branches. The fruit is sweetish and edible, though needing an incision at the end to make it ripen properly, and forms a considerable article of food with the poorer classes. The wood is coarse-grained and inferior, but was made into durable mummy-cases. The tree is good for shade, and is still cultivated for that use in Egypt. Sometimes called
Egyptian sycamore or Pharaoh's fig. - n. In England, the sycamore-maple, Acer Pseudo-platanus, the plane-tree of the Scotch. From its dense shade, it was chosen in the sacred dramas of the middle ages to represent the sycamore (Luke xix. 4) into which Zaccheus climbed (Prior). See
maple . - n. In the United States, the buttonwood, Platanus occidentalis, or any of the plane-trees. See plane-tree, 1.
- n. In New South Wales, Sterculia lurida.
Wiktionary
- n. US Any of several North American plane trees, of the genus Platanus, especially Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore).
- n. UK A large British and European species of maple, Acer pseudoplatanus, known in North America as the sycamore maple.
- n. A large tree bearing edible fruit, Ficus sycomorus, allied to the common fig and found in Egypt and Syria; also called the sycamore fig or the fig-mulberry; the Biblical sycomore.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A large tree (Ficus Sycomorus) allied to the common fig. It is found in Egypt and Syria, and is the sycamore, or sycamine, of Scripture.
- n. The American plane tree, or buttonwood.
- n. A large European species of maple (Acer Pseudo-Platanus).
WordNet 3.0
- n. any of several trees of the genus Platanus having thin pale bark that scales off in small plates and lobed leaves and ball-shaped heads of fruits
- n. Eurasian maple tree with pale grey bark that peels in flakes like that of a sycamore tree; leaves with five ovate lobes yellow in autumn
- n. thick-branched wide-spreading tree of Africa and adjacent southwestern Asia often buttressed with branches rising from near the ground; produces cluster of edible but inferior figs on short leafless twigs; the biblical sycamore
- n. variably colored and sometimes variegated hard tough elastic wood of a sycamore tree
Etymologies
- Circa 1350, from Old French sicamor, from Latin sȳcomorus, from Ancient Greek συκόμορος (sūkomoros, "fig-mulberry"), from σῦκον (sukon, "fig") + μόρον (moron, "mulberry"). Possibly influenced by Hebrew שִׁקמָה (shiqmah, "mulberry"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English sicamour, a kind of fig tree, from Old French sicamor, from Latin sȳcomorus, from Greek sūkomoros, perhaps of Semitic origin; see šqm in Semitic roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“She said preliminary tests have shown the sycamore is more than 2,000 years old.”
The Huffington Post: Ancient Tree In Jericho To Be Center Of Planned Tourist Hub
“Mariko Passion mattilda a.k.a. matt bernstein sycamore”
serial killer targets “a certain profile of a woman” « Bound, Not Gagged
“Hence they (Joseph and Mary) went out to that sycamore, which is now called Matarea (the modern and Arabic name for Heliopolis).”
“Oriental sycamore, which is the European species, is more hardy in these respects than the native one and is therefore often chosen as”
“The chlorophyll in the leaf-cells is now at its prime and the leaves very closely approach a pure green, especially those of the sycamore, which is the nearest to a pure green of any tree in the forest.”
“The tree also suffers from a fungal disease called sycamore anthracnose.”
“The sycamore is the most important European species of the genus Acer.”
“In Hinteres Lauterbrunnental in the north, the broadleaf forest zone is dominated by deciduous tree species such as sycamore Acer pseudoplatanus, grey alder Alnus incana, European ash Fraxinus exelsior, elm Ulmus glabra and silver birch Betula pendula.”
“The old "sycamore" from Tennessee looked to me at that precious moment as tall as a church steeple, and fully as large around.”
“Around them the forest trees lay on every side, some being great oaks, others beeches, with drooping branches and smooth silvery bark -- as well as other species, such as sycamore, ash and lindens.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘sycamore’.
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Sue's favorite words
panache, flair, pantaloons, periwinkle, pumpernickel, persnickety, cachet, coquette, élan, iris, ambrosia, keen and 99 more...
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-more or -less
Words ending with *more or *less, more or less. Many of theses terms also appear on the list The -less Said, which see.
schemaless, jobless, endless, useless, unless, guileless, wireless, regardless, homeless, nevertheless, countless, doubtless and 434 more...
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Alchemist
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♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
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inquiryqueue's list
words delicious to pronounce
apostrophe, asphodel, anemone, cantaloupe, cantalevered, cardamom, coriander, petrichor, sycamore, luminous, tendril, peculiar and 122 more...
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Color Words for Shoes
Vendors can get oddly creative.
amaranth, brindle, iguana, slate black, madder brown, bison, pinecone, seal brown, forest night, burnt orange, monument, beet red and 399 more...
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BuffaloBen's Words
sycamore, wipfel, rohlingsspindel, gorgeous, flamboyance, anschmiegen, pengpeng, zuckerhut, revolver, troubleshooter, breeze, dandy and 228 more...
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ljw's list
list?
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The Most Beautiful Words in the Engli...
mellifluous, obscure, star-crossed, undulating, solstice, messiah, audacious, solace, twilight, wanderlust, lovelorn, byzantine and 219 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (S)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
sabian symbols, saffron, sagacious, sage, salamander, sally lunn, salmon, salsify, salt water taffy, samhain, sand dollar, sandalwood and 270 more...
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The O.U.P. Junior Dictionary Death Row
Another news story about words being removed from a dictionary before their time. See also the list of words added to the dictionary.
carol, cracker, holly, ivy, mistletoe, dwarf, elf, goblin, abbey, aisle, altar, bishop and 137 more...
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Trees!
mahogany, sequoia, balsa, sandalwood, tamarind, balsam, eucalyptus, birch, willow, buttonwood, evergreen, loblolly and 501 more...
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NakedFringe's Words
masticate, chamber, orchid, mandolin, yellow, pomegranate, conundrum, paradox, gyrate, calamitous, opalescent, cacophony and 533 more...
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S
saffron, sapphire, sashay, satin, seashell, seductive, sepia, serene, shadow, shimmer, silhouette, skyline and 96 more...
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the omnibus
preponderance, idioglossia, acumen, heteronym, flux, anacoluthon, metonymy, impetus, constellation, exegesis, revelatory, cloistered and 877 more...
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Hedgepiglet
Words for things both tangible and nonanthropic
rorqual, vellus, wrasse, rainbow bee-eater, tinkershire, lemonquat, boomslang, tufted vetch, cubeb, nipplefruit, madapple, wad and 447 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for sycamore.

ruzuzu "The wood is coarse-grained and inferior, but was made into durable mummy-cases. The tree is good for shade, and is still cultivated for that use in Egypt. Sometimes called Egyptian sycamore or Pharaoh's fig." --Cent. Dict. Aug 17, 2011
ofravens on spotted branch
of the sycamore
two black rooks hunch
from "Prospect," Sylvia Plath Apr 14, 2008