early wood

American  

noun

1. springwood.

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early wood Scientific  

/ ûr′lē /

1. The part of the wood in a growth ring of a tree that is produced earlier in the growing season. The cells of early wood are larger and have thinner walls than those produced later in the growing season.

2. Compare late wood

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Etymology

Origin of early wood

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

This is known as early wood, or spring wood.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

During the fall season, the secondary xylem develops thickened cell walls, forming late wood, or autumn wood, which is denser than early wood.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

Pores in early wood plugged with tyloses, collected in a few rows.

From Studies of Trees by Levison, Jacob Joshua

Note also whether the late wood is very heavy and hard, showing a decided contrast to the early wood, or fairly soft and grading into the early wood without abrupt change.

From Studies of Trees by Levison, Jacob Joshua

In ring-porous woods the vessels of the early wood not infrequently appear on a finished surface as darker than the denser late wood, though on cross sections of heartwood the reverse is commonly true.

From The Mechanical Properties of Wood Including a Discussion of the Factors Affecting the Mechanical Properties, and Methods of Timber Testing by Record, Samuel J.