any shrub or tree belonging to the genus Alnus, of the birch family, growing in moist places in northern temperate or colder regions and having toothed, simple leaves and flowers in catkins.
any of various trees or shrubs resembling an alder.
any N temperate betulaceous shrub or tree of the genus Alnus, having toothed leaves and conelike fruits. The bark is used in dyeing and tanning and the wood for bridges, etc because it resists underwater rot
any of several similar trees or shrubs
before 900; Middle English alder, aller, Old English alor, al ( e ) r; cognate with Old Norse ǫlr, Middle Low German al ( l ) er < Germanic *álusṓ; akin to Middle High German alze < Germanic *alū́sō, Old High German elira, erila ( German Erle ) < Germanic *álisṓ, Middle Low German els ( e ) < Germanic *alísō, hence Germanic *álus, alísō; compare Polish olcha, Russian olʾkhá < Indo-European dialect *alisā; Lithuanian al̃ksnis, Latin alnus < Indo-European dialect *alsnos
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Native trees like alder, spruce and rowan are interspersed with hawthorn shrubs.
From BBC ● Mar. 26, 2026
They look for hardy alder trees, which indicate an area that had been dug up for mining years ago.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 8, 2025
The spacious kitchen is also accented with rich hardwood flooring, stone design elements, solid alder doors, and dual-pane windows.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2025
Pine, birch and eucalyptus reduced the virus' infectivity after four hours, and alder showed no antiviral effect.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2024
The odor of baked salmon hung stale in the air, slightly bitter and slightly acrid from the long smoldering smoke of burning alder leaves, and lay like an invisible pall over the exhausted revelers.
From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson
Tilly Phillips, now 16, was 15 when she underwent the conscious craniotomy procedure at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
"The fun part of this story is when Pattra joined my lab," Alder said.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 1, 2026
“The wrongdoing that we alleged turns out to have been just the tip of the fraud iceberg,” said Mark Strauss, a lawyer for Alder Wood, the whistleblower entity that filed the lawsuit, on Tuesday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 26, 2026
Highly skilled rescue ski teams had departed from Boreal Mountain Ski Resort and Tahoe Donner’s Alder Creek Adventure Center to make their way to the six known survivors, according to sheriff’s officials.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 2026
The room was a definite step above Alder Whin’s.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
A walk along the Gabrielino Trail with consulting arborist Alison Lancaster reveals a wealth of information about the trees of Los Angeles, including white alders, Torrey pines and coast live oaks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 29, 2024
As we spoke, a cool spring rushed out beside our feet from a low stand of alders.
From New York Times ● Aug. 31, 2022
Red alders and big leaf maples are beautiful, fast-growing trees.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 26, 2021
“The cattail would be good. The alders and the willows would be a nice improvement.”
From Washington Post ● Sep. 11, 2021
The wind had risen, cold and biting as a winter gale, but the forest opened a little, and as the ground dipped, they found themselves in a protected hollow in a glade of alders.
From "The Black Cauldron" by Lloyd Alexander
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
