cornel
[kawr-nl]
- any tree or shrub of the genus Cornus; dogwood.
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Origin of cornel
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for cornel
Contemporary Examples
Tavis Smiley, the PBS talk show host and close friend to Cornel West, often credits West with having a “useable intellect.”
Cornel West and Jesse Jackson, for instance, have both suggested that Obama is somehow not black enough.
Others secretly agree with Cornel West and Tavis Smiley, who have been unremitting in their criticism of Obama on matters of race.
And one who denounced Harry Belafonte and Cornel West to boot!
Plus, great thinkers from Cornel West to Robert Reich tell us what they're angry about.
Historical Examples
Your father was a common so'dier and his was cornel o' the regiment!'
Heather and SnowGeorge MacDonald
He may be your late husband, mem, but he's my cornel yet, and I s' keep my word til him!
Heather and SnowGeorge MacDonald
Cornel is a kind of wood of great hardness used for making bows.
English Narrative PoemsVarious
And Circ shut them in sties, and gave them mast and acorns and cornel to eat.
Stories of the Old worldAlfred John Church
And when you cam, Cornel, we were awfu' anxious you should never hear.
Great Ghost StoriesVarious
cornel
- any cornaceous plant of the genus Cornus, such as the dogwood and dwarf cornel
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Word Origin
C16: probably from Middle Low German kornelle, from Old French cornelle, from Vulgar Latin cornicula (unattested), from Latin cornum cornel cherry, from cornus cornel tree
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for cornel
n.
a type of tree or shrub with an edible fruit, 1550s, from German cornel-baum, from Old High German cornul, from Medieval Latin cornolium, from French cornouille, from Vulgar Latin *cornuculum, from Latin cornum "cornel-cherry," perhaps related to Greek kerasos "cherry." Old English also had borrowed the Latin word, in corntreow. The plant was noted for its hard wood, favored by the ancients for making shafts of spears and arrows.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper