oak
Americannoun
-
any tree or shrub belonging to the genus Quercus, of the beech family, bearing the acorn as fruit.
-
the hard, durable wood of an oak tree, used in making furniture and in construction.
-
Archaic. the leaves of an oak tree, especially as worn in a chaplet.
adjective
idioms
noun
-
any deciduous or evergreen tree or shrub of the fagaceous genus Quercus, having acorns as fruits and lobed leaves See also holm oak cork oak red oak Turkey oak durmast
-
-
the wood of any of these trees, used esp as building timber and for making furniture
-
( as modifier )
an oak table
-
-
any of various trees that resemble the oak, such as the poison oak, silky oak, and Jerusalem oak
-
-
anything made of oak, esp a heavy outer door to a set of rooms in an Oxford or Cambridge college
-
to shut this door as a sign one does not want visitors
-
-
the leaves of an oak tree, worn as a garland
-
the dark brownish colour of oak wood
-
any of various species of casuarina, such as desert oak, swamp oak, or she-oak
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of oak
First recorded before 900; Middle English ok(e), oc, Old English āc; cognate with Dutch eik, German Eiche, Old Icelandic eik; further origin uncertain
Explanation
An oak is a tree that typically sheds its leaves in the winter and grows acorns as fruit. If you get hit on the head with an acorn, you are probably standing under an oak. There are many species of oaks, a few of which are evergreen, keeping their leaves all year, but most have bright leaves in the fall and are bare for the winter months. An oak table or oak desk is made from the sturdy wood of an oak tree. The strength of oaks has inspired several countries to adopt them as symbols on money and flags, and in 2004 the oak was voted the national tree by the US Congress.
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:
Researchers found that oak trees continue absorbing carbon dioxide well after their annual growth has ended, suggesting forests may store less carbon in wood than many climate models currently predict.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 9, 2026
Luxe flooring includes slabs of Italian marble and oak, while the new kitchen serves up top-of-the-line appliances and marble counters, and the bathrooms are clad in marble.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 26, 2026
A year-long legal dispute over the felling of an ancient oak in north London has ended after Toby Carvery's owners apologised and agreed to fund 1,000 new trees.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
I end my visit to Trump Doral sitting on a stool upholstered with burgundy leather and dark oak at Champions Bar and Grill, the central social club on the Trump Doral campus.
From Slate ● Jun. 2, 2026
They descended into a big valley of oak, ash and pine, and soon reached a wide silver river.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
California oaks showed a different seasonal schedule but the same overall pattern.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 9, 2026
In 2024, the beetle was discovered in several canyons in Santa Clarita, putting it just 14 miles from the roughly 600,000 coast live oaks in the Santa Monica Mountains.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 10, 2026
But before you can soak in Santa Barbara County’s highly popular Montecito Hot Springs, you’ll need to hike a little over a mile uphill, threading your way among boulders, oaks and a meandering creek.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 5, 2026
Many of the towering sycamore trees and elder oaks — probably far older than even the adult Scout leaders — still blot out the midday sun with new, green leaves sprouting from their charred trunks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 9, 2025
Barry looked around his neighborhood—the little houses, the scraggly lawns surrounded by chain-link fences, the palm trees and big oaks.
From "I Survived Hurricane Katrina, 2005" by Lauren Tarshis
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.
