arborvitae
Americannoun
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any of several ornamental or timber-producing evergreen trees belonging to the genus Thuja, of the cypress family, native to North America and eastern Asia, having a scaly bark and scalelike leaves on branchlets.
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Anatomy. arbor vitae.
Etymology
Origin of arborvitae
1655–65 arborvitae for def. 1; 1790–1800 arborvitae for def. 2; < Latin: tree of life
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Giant arborvitae trees flank Maude’s Garden on Seattle’s First Hill, muffling the hum of city traffic for this tiny therapeutic oasis.
From Seattle Times
Q: I have a boundary row of 50 arborvitae.
From Seattle Times
The University of Massachusetts has this to say about pruning arborvitae:
From Seattle Times
Limiting the number of upright limbs on an evergreen such as arborvitae leaves fewer to break off, and a narrower top to better shed snow.
From Washington Times
People who crave quick evergreen screening seem to be turning less to the problem-prone Leyland cypress in favor of the arborvitae Green Giant, a better plant but suffering now from overuse.
From Washington Post
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.
