Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various broad-leaved evergreen trees or shrubs of the genus Arbutus of the heath family, including the madrone and the strawberry tree, that are native chiefly to warm temperate regions of the Americas and Europe.
  • noun The trailing arbutus.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A plant of the genus Arbutus.
  • noun The trailing arbutus (see below).
  • noun [capitalized] A genus of evergreen shrubs or small trees of southern Europe and western North America, natural order Ericaceœ, characterized by a free calyx and a many-seeded berry.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The strawberry tree, a genus of evergreen shrubs, of the Heath family. It has a berry externally resembling the strawberry; the arbute tree.
  • noun (Bot.) a creeping or trailing plant of the Heath family (Epigæa repens), having white or usually rose-colored flowers with a delicate fragrance, growing in small axillary clusters, and appearing early in the spring; in New England known as mayflower; -- called also ground laurel.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Flowering plants in the genus Arbutus, the strawberry tree.
  • noun Epigaea repens, the mayflower, the trailing arbutus.
  • noun arbute; the wood of the strawberry tree.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any of several evergreen shrubs of the genus Arbutus of temperate Europe and America

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin arbutus.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From New Latin Arbutus (genus name), from Latin arbutus.

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Examples

  • They tell me that the arbutus is particularly fond of pine-woods and light sandy soil.

    Flower Stories 1903

  • "'The arbutus is particularly fond of pine-woods and light sandy soil'" Frontispiece

    Flower Stories 1903

  • The arbutus is now open everywhere in the woods and groves.

    Rural Hours 1887

  • Priscilla, or some other winsome and good maiden of the early colonial days, who transplanted to New England this poetic practice, sweet as the fragrant pink and white blossoms of the trailing arbutus, which is especially used to commemorate it.

    Apples, Ripe and Rosy, Sir Mary Catherine Crowley

  • I have heard her regret that the most delicious of all the growths of spring, the ground-sweet, which I think they now call arbutus, would not prosper out of its forest shelter.

    Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker 1871

  • It, too, is a kind of arbutus, but of great rarity, and found nowhere else except in Italy and Ireland.

    Manasseh A Romance of Transylvania M��r J��kai 1864

  • If the latest edition of this ‘exhaustive’ dictionary still defines it as ‘arbutus – trailing arbutus, try the RH book company’s dictionary or another helpful one.

    The Merriam-Webster English Dictionary « Books « Literacy News 2009

  • M-W once again wasted my time (arbutus – trailing arbutus).

    The Merriam-Webster English Dictionary « Books « Literacy News 2009

  • My latest dismal attempt was with the word ‘arbutus’.

    The Merriam-Webster English Dictionary « Books « Literacy News 2009

  • * References: Massif des Maures = local mountain range; "La Voisine" means "neighbor" -- meet mine via her knitting blog; une ruelle (f) = narrow street; une arbouse (f) = arbutus-berry [from the wild strawberry tree]

    Escapade 2010

Comments

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  • usage on micaceous

    March 19, 2008

  • See also arbutus

    March 19, 2008

  • We have arbutus in my area. They are extremely picky and will only grow where there is exactly the right combination of sun / rain / proximity to the seashore, i.e. they are an evolutionary flop, and consequently quite charming with their soft peeling bark and deferential posture.

    March 19, 2008

  • It is fun to say, though. Arbutus. Arbutus. Arbutus.

    March 19, 2008

  • Ah, how I pity the young dead who gave

    All that they were, and might become, that we

    With tired eyes should watch this perfect sea

    Re-weave its patterning of silver wave

    Round scented cliffs of arbutus and bay.

    - Edith Wharton, 'The Young Dead'.

    September 21, 2009