bristlecone pine

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noun

a pine, Pinus aristata, of the southwestern U.S., bearing short needles crowded into long, thick bundles and cones having scales tipped with a slender, curved spine.

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Also called hickory pine.

Origin of bristlecone pine

An Americanism dating back to 1890–95; bristle + cone

Words nearby bristlecone pine

brisling, Brisso, Brissot, bristle, bristlebird, bristlecone pine, bristle-grass, bristlemouth, bristletail, bristle-thighed curlew, bristle worm

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use bristlecone pine in a sentence

Blister rust is like having the flu; the pine beetle is like fast acting leukemia.
What It Takes to Kill a Grizzly Bear|Doug Peacock|November 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Because this food source could abruptly disappear at any time, cutworm moths cannot be counted on to replace pine nuts.
What It Takes to Kill a Grizzly Bear|Doug Peacock|November 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
This high-altitude pine needs to be 50-80 years old before it even begins to produce cones.
What It Takes to Kill a Grizzly Bear|Doug Peacock|November 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Meat, especially outside the park, is a nutritious but deadly alternative to pine nuts.
What It Takes to Kill a Grizzly Bear|Doug Peacock|November 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST

And, if these alternative foods were indeed similar in food value to pine nuts, why are the bears not already wolfing them down?
What It Takes to Kill a Grizzly Bear|Doug Peacock|November 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
While he openeth his hands he shall rejoice: but transgressors shall pine away in the end.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version|Various
After this it wound along on ridges and in ravines till it reached the heart of a great pine forest, where stood a saw-mill.
Ramona|Helen Hunt Jackson
The lone pine on the stone cap of Gander Knob waved its farewell, and we clattered down the long slope into the great world.
The Soldier of the Valley|Nelson Lloyd
How many imitators of the great manipulator have looked at this growth of pine and wondered where the old master obtained it!
Antonio Stradivari|Horace William Petherick
We have for the upper table, or front, a thin slab of wood known as pine, from a species of tree that grows all over the world.
Antonio Stradivari|Horace William Petherick

British Dictionary definitions for bristlecone pine

bristlecone pine

/ (ˈbrɪsəlˌkəʊn) /

noun

a coniferous tree, Pinus aristata, of the western US, bearing cones with bristle-like prickles: one of the longest-lived trees, useful in radiocarbon dating

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012