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 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. - noun An epiphytic climbing plant of the genus Hedera (H. Helix), natural order Araliaceæ, and the type of the series Hedereæ.
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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