bur oak

American  

noun

1. an oak tree, Quercus macrocarpa, of eastern North America, having shiny, dark-green leaves, light-gray deeply ridged bark, and very large acorns with a fringed cup, yielding a hard, durable wood: the state tree of Illinois.

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bur oak British  

noun

1. an E North American oak, Quercus macrocarpa , having fringed acorn cups and durable timber

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Etymology

Origin of bur oak

An Americanism dating back to 1805–15

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bur oak

Van Pelt repeated the method on 11 more trees, including bur oak, scarlet oak and the pecan.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 1, 2023

Each acorn was painted with colored bands to indicate its species: red oak, bur oak, black oak, white oak, swamp white oak, scarlet oak, pin oak, willow oak.

From New York Times ● Nov. 25, 2022

For my money, I’ll take the bur oak, the slowest-growing but the strongest of all; even its acorns are heavily armored, ready to do battle with the uninviting soil.

From Slate ● Apr. 22, 2016

Standing in the shade of a roughly 200-year-old bur oak tree, Billy Ray Pemberton cups his hand and takes a drink of the cool spring water.

From Washington Times ● Feb. 8, 2016

“If they’re not in that bur oak tree, they’re around there somewhere. Rowdy will find them.”

From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls