Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A widely cultivated evergreen climbing plant (Hedera helix) native to Eurasia, having palmately lobed leaves, root-bearing young stems, small green flowers grouped in umbels, and blackish or yellowish berries.
- noun Any of several other woody, climbing or trailing evergreen plants of the genus Hedera of the Northern Hemisphere.
- noun Any of various creeping or trailing plants of other genera, such as Boston ivy, ground ivy, or Virginia creeper.
- noun Poison ivy.
- noun Informal A university in the Ivy League.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun An epiphytic climbing plant of the genus Hedera (H. Helix), natural order Araliaceæ, and the type of the series Hedereæ.
- noun Ground-pine: chiefly in the compound herb-ivy.
- To cover with ivy.
- noun In Australia, the cultivated varieties of Pelargonium peltatum, commonly known as ivy-leaved geraniums, which are there trained over fences and walls, sometimes to a height of 20 or 30 feet, supplanting the English or common ivy in this use. See
ivy-leaved geranium . - noun The Macquarie Harbor grape, Calacinum adpressum.
- noun The naturalized Cape or German ivy, Senecio mikanioides. See
Senecio , 1.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Bot.) A plant of the genus Hedera (
Hedera helix ), common in Europe. Its leaves are evergreen, dark, smooth, shining, and mostly five-pointed; the flowers yellowish and small; the berries black or yellow. The stem clings to walls and trees by rootlike fibers. - noun (Bot.) See
Virginia creeper . - noun (Bot.) a popular name in America for the ivy proper (
Hedera helix ). - noun (Bot.) a creeping plant, with smooth, succulent stems, and fleshy, light-green leaves; a species of
Senecio (Senecio scandens ). - noun (Bot.) Gill (
Nepeta Glechoma ). - noun (Bot.) See Mountain laurel, under
Mountain . - noun (Zoöl.) the barn owl.
- noun (Bot.) the ivy plant.
- noun (Bot.) a climbing plant (
Ampelopsis tricuspidata ), closely related to the Virginia creeper. - noun (Bot.) an American woody creeper (
Rhus Toxicodendron ), with trifoliate leaves, and greenish-white berries. It is exceedingly poisonous to the touch for most persons. - noun [Obs.] to console one's self as best one can.
- noun a climbing plant of the genus Marcgravia.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any of several
woody ,climbing , ortrailing evergreen plants of thegenus Hedera .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun Old World vine with lobed evergreen leaves and black berrylike fruits
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Settle, then, which -- plant or ivy -- Dickens supposed the reader to know least about, and which, therefore, Dickens was telling him about; and you settle which word -- _plant_ or _ivy_ -- is the subject.
Higher Lessons in English A work on english grammar and composition Brainerd Kellogg
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Poison ivy is rarely desirable, but the orange-red leaves of this woody-stemmed vine are quite ornamental.
Nature hit snooze button on foliage, just now starting to pop Joel M. Lerner 2010
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One caution: Poison ivy is abundant, with some plants topping 5 feet in height.
A Home on the Range 2010
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Both the poison ivy and the Virginia creeper are native to eastern North America, but the English ivy is a native of Europe that is now naturalized in many parts of the U.S.
Archive 2009-07-01 AYDIN 2009
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Poison ivy is not too common, but in some ravines with more moisture, it is smart to look out!
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I think there are years of GOP propaganda taught in ivy league economic classes that need to be scrubbed away.
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The poison ivy is turning red, the air was filled with dragonflies, and the western sky was catching fire.
"We are of the going water and the gone." scarletboi 2008
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Poison ivy is not too common, but in some ravines with more moisture, it is smart to look out!
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About 10 minutes before the gates open to the public (which is 90 minutes before first pitch), control of the park is switched from a 24-hour operations center on the service level to the command post, a 15 by 20 foot building, partially covered in ivy, just beyond the bullpens in left-center field.
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The trees are painted on drywall, the houses are 3 feet deep, even the ivy is two-dimensional.
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