ceiba
Americannoun
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any bombacaceous tropical tree of the genus Ceiba, such as the silk-cotton tree
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silk cotton; kapok
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of ceiba
First recorded in 1805–15; from Spanish, from Taíno ceyba or its cognate in another Arawakan language
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.
See Examples For:
At the first, we got lucky: Two magnificent harpy eagles high in the canopy were carrying clusters of dried branches to their growing nest in the crown of a ceiba tree.
From New York Times ● Apr. 26, 2023
Here's a story about the 400-year-old ceiba tree on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 7, 2019
In one entrancing swath of forest, towering ceiba trees loom and hooting howler monkeys leap from branch to branch in the understory.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 26, 2018
Utuado is surrounded by dense forest of native ceiba, Asian teaks, and West Indian and Honduran mahogany where parrots roost.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2017
I find them jumping on the trampoline, daring each other to see who can touch the branches of the ceiba tree.
From "Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez
Driving west from El Hormiguero toward the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, the road wends through ceibas, strangler figs, and sapodillas, a tree prized since Maya times for its chicle gum.
From Science Magazine ● Oct. 11, 2023
Farther out it was whipped into a yellow cream by the thrashing branches of uprooted trees, ceibas and cedars, huge as a church, which rolled and tumbled as their submerged limbs caught on the bottom.
From The Mystery of The Barranca by Whitaker, Herman
The emerald coronels of the giant ceibas on the far lake verge burned softly with a ruddy glow.
From Carmen Ariza by Stocking, Charles Francis
The banks of the Manzanares are very pleasant, and are shaded by mimosas, erythrinas, ceibas, and other trees of gigantic growth.
From Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 1 by Ross, Thomasina
In its vicinity are sugar plantations, tobacco fields, pineapples, cocoanuts, mangoes, royal palms, ceibas, peasants' homes, typical towns and villages, all the life of the people in the city and country.
From Cuba, Old and New by Robinson, Albert G. (Albert Gardner)
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.
