Definitions

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

  • noun Any of several willows having long rodlike twigs used in basketry, especially Salix viminalis, native to Eurasia.
  • noun A twig of one of these shrubs or trees.
  • noun Any of several North American dogwoods, especially the red osier.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Either the round-leaved dogwood, Cornus circinata, or the alternate-leaved dogwood, C. alternifolia, the twigs of which are green.
  • noun Leucothoe racemosa, an ornamental shrub of the eastern United States with racemes of waxy white flowers borne on the under side of recurved racemes.
  • noun One of various species of willow (Salix) whose tough flexible branches are employed for wickerwork, withes, etc.
  • Made or consisting of willow or other shoots or twigs.

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

  • adjective Made of osiers; composed of, or containing, osiers.
  • noun A kind of willow (Salix viminalis) growing in wet places in Europe and Asia, and introduced into North America. It is considered the best of the willows for basket work. The name is sometimes given to any kind of willow.
  • noun One of the long, pliable twigs of this plant, or of other similar plants.
  • noun [Eng.] a place where willows are grown for basket making.
  • noun An American shrub (Cornus stolonifera) which has slender red branches; -- also called osier cornel.

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

  • noun A kind of willow, Salix viminalis, growing in wet places in Europe and Asia, and introduced into North America. It is considered the best of the willows for basket work. The name is sometimes given to any kind of willow.
  • noun One of the long, pliable twigs of this plant, or of other similar plants.

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

  • noun flexible twig of a willow tree
  • noun any of various willows having pliable twigs used in basketry and furniture

Etymologies

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

[Middle English, from Old English oser and Old French osier, both from Medieval Latin osera, osiera.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French osier ("basket willow, withy"), from Old French osiere (compare Medieval Latin auseria ("willow-bed")), from Frankish *halster (compare Low German Halster, Hilster ("bay willow")).

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Examples

  • The purple osier is already set with green points from which are to emerge fluffy catkins, and the sallow is preparing its gold and silver blossoms which are to be the early palm, dripping with honey and humming with insects.

    The Spring of Joy: A Little Book of Healing 1917

  • They are small islands planted entirely with willows, and are called osier-holts.

    Miscellanea Juliana Horatia Gatty Ewing 1863

  • On the arrival of the news of his second ejectment, he turned to his wife and said: "Wife, get the creels ready again;" that is, the osier baskets in which he had carried his children in his first remove.

    Sketches of North Carolina, Historical and Biographical, Illustrative of the Principles of a Portion of Her Early Settlers 1846

  • It is a place like the court; but instead of pales there are hurdles, which are made of sticks that will bend, such as osier twigs; and they are twisted and made very fast, so that nothing can creep in, and nothing can get out.

    Harry's Ladder to Learning Anonymous

  • Malia wore a dress from Anthropologie the 'unconditional osier dress', while Sasha wore a 'Clarissa jacquard dress' from BB Dakota.

    Michelle Obama's Year in Style 2011

  • To replace a defunct rhododendron I planted a small red osier dogwood and on the hot sunny side of the house, a canadice grape vine that promises prolific fruit suitable for jams and jelly.

    Elizabeth Grossman: Supper on a Sunday of Hands in the Dirt Elizabeth Grossman 2010

  • At the top of the ridge he built a larger gazebo, a curved shape that he wove, basketlike, out of saplings and osier so that its curved lines seemed to grow out of the surrounding landscape.

    Louisa May Alcott Susan Cheever 2010

  • To replace a defunct rhododendron I planted a small red osier dogwood and on the hot sunny side of the house, a canadice grape vine that promises prolific fruit suitable for jams and jelly.

    Elizabeth Grossman: Supper on a Sunday of Hands in the Dirt 2010

  • To replace a defunct rhododendron I planted a small red osier dogwood and on the hot sunny side of the house, a canadice grape vine that promises prolific fruit suitable for jams and jelly.

    Supper on a Sunday of Hands in the Dirt 2010

  • It has mats of water lily Nymphaea alba and bushes of goat willow Salix caprea, grey willow S. cinerea and purple osier S. purpurea.

    Srebarna Nature Reserve, Bulgaria 2009

Comments

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  • "Some branches from specific trees have their own names, such as osiers and withes or withies, which come from willows."

    June 24, 2015