Showing results for "acorn"

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Politics dictionary results for acorn.

acorn

American  

[ay-kawrn, ay-kern] / ˈeɪ kɔrn, ˈeɪ kərn /

noun

• acorns
  plural

1. the typically ovoid fruit or nut of an oak, enclosed at the base by a cupule.

2. a finial or knop, as on a piece of furniture, in the form of an acorn.

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acorn British  

/ ˈeɪkɔːn /

noun

1. the fruit of an oak tree, consisting of a smooth thick-walled nut in a woody scaly cuplike base

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• acorned
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• acorns
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of acorn

before 1000; Middle English acorne (influenced by corn ¹ ), replacing akern, Old English æcern, æcren mast, oak-mast; cognate with Old Norse akarn fruit of wild trees, Middle High German ackeran acorn, Gothic akran fruit, yield < Germanic *akrana-; alleged derivation from base of acre is dubious if original reference was to wild trees

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Explanation

The nut, or fruit, that grows on oak trees is called an acorn. Chicken Little thought the sky was falling when an acorn fell on his head. Don't make that same mistake. Acorns are a distinctive nut that's often found on forest floors where oak trees grow. They are smooth and greenish, set in a rough brown base that's shaped like a little cup. The acorn is a seed, able to sprout roots if it falls in the right place, eventually growing into a new oak tree. Many animals eat acorns, some stockpiling the nuts for weeks. In Old English, æcern means "nut," from a Germanic origin.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

acorn acorns

Looking across more than 550 million years of evolutionary history, the team found evidence of the same two-origin arrangement in chickens, zebrafish and even acorn worms.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 21, 2026

An acorn doesn’t become an oak on an assembly line.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

Fireballs are made when larger pieces of debris - more like the size of a grape or an acorn - pass though the atmosphere.

From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2026

They put hot rocks into their tightly woven baskets, along with food like acorn mush, to bring the contents to boil.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 8, 2026

At first glance, Danny had thought it was a gem, but up close he saw it was a gold acorn with two green leaves at the stem.

From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova

One of the most unexpected discoveries involves something that might seem entirely unrelated to Lyme disease: acorns.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 9, 2026

In a kind of treasure hunt, Crouch gathers all the acorns on private lands.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026

One thing LLMs are great at is rapidly finding little acorns within huge blocks of text.

From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026

Red and fallow deer eat grasses, leaves and shoots of trees, as well as acorns, sweet chestnuts and horse chestnuts.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

The Mackenzie brothers, throwing acorns at the squirrels, are somewhat lower than that, but not low enough to be considered anything but high.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

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