maple

[ mey-puh l ]

/ ˈmeɪ pəl /

noun

any of numerous trees or shrubs of the genus Acer, species of which are grown as shade or ornamental trees, for timber, or for sap.Compare maple family.

the wood of any such tree.

the flavor of maple syrup or maple sugar.

Bowling Slang. pin(def 12).

Nearby words

map, walter, mapau, mapes, mapes, walter, maping, maple, maple butter, maple family, maple grove, maple heights, maple honey

Origin of maple

before 900; Middle English mapel, Old English mapul-, in mapultrēow, mapulder maple tree, cognate with Old Saxon mapulder

Related formsma·ple·like, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for maple

“Treat every crime as if the victim were your mother,” Maple would say.
Eric Garner Was Just a Number to Them|Michael Daly|December 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Sally ate it with maple syrup; at home we ate the store-bought kind with ketchup.
‘Tracing the Blue Light’: Read Chapter 1 of Eileen Cronin’s ‘Mermaid’|Eileen Cronin|April 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Back in New York, Maple fell ill with cancer and died in 2001 at the age of 48.
My Patrol With the NYPD’s Bill Bratton|Michael Daly|March 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Bratton later suggested that a statue of Maple should be erected in Times Square.
My Patrol With the NYPD’s Bill Bratton|Michael Daly|March 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST

His voice carried no hint that he felt he—or even he and Maple–deserved credit for the transformation.
My Patrol With the NYPD’s Bill Bratton|Michael Daly|March 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A maple within the enclosure exhibits 242 rings of annual growth.
The Country of the Neutrals|James H. Coyne
If the farmer were wise he would replant some of these lands with such trees as spruce, hickory, walnut, or maple.
Conservation Reader|Harold W. Fairbanks
Half-way up the opposite slope a brush fire was burning clearly and steadily in a maple grove.
The Golden Road|Lucy Maud Montgomery
The maple tree has been built out of muddy water and carbon gas.
Earth and Sky Every Child Should Know|Julia Ellen Rogers
Maple folding wedges were set in these caps over each pile and on them rested 12×12-in.
Concrete Construction|Halbert P. Gillette

British Dictionary definitions for maple

maple

/ (ˈmeɪpəl) /

noun

any tree or shrub of the N temperate genus Acer, having winged seeds borne in pairs and lobed leaves: family Aceraceae

the hard close-grained wood of any of these trees, used for furniture and flooring

the flavour of the sap of the sugar maple

Word Origin for maple

C14: from Old English mapel-, as in mapeltrēow maple tree

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

Word Origin and History for maple

maple

c.1300, from Old English mapultreow "maple tree," also mapolder, mapuldre, related to Old Norse möpurr, Old Saxon mapulder, Middle Low German mapeldorn, from Proto-Germanic *maplo-. There also was a Proto-Germanic *matlo- (cf. Old High German mazzaltra, German maszholder), but the connection and origins are mysterious. Formerly with adjectival form mapelin (early 15c.; Old English mapuldern). Maple syrup attested from 1824, American English. The maple leaf is mentioned as the emblem of Canada from 1850.

maple

noun

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Nearby words

Origin of maple

Examples from the Web for maple

British Dictionary definitions for maple

maple

noun

Word Origin for maple

Word Origin and History for maple

maple