pine needle

American

noun

the needlelike leaf of a pine tree.

pine needle British

noun

any of the fine pointed leaves of a pine

"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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

pine needles

plural

Etymology

Origin of pine needle

First recorded in 1865–70

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:

pine needle

To help with the pine needle drop, she also advises putting it in a cooler part of your house, away from radiators or open fire.

From BBC ● Dec. 1, 2025

Lori Greene’s land east of Charlotte has for 30 years teemed with trees planted to harvest longleaf pine needle straw.

From Salon ● Oct. 20, 2024

Prescribed burns are set intentionally and under carefully controlled conditions to clear underbrush, pine needle beds and other surface fuels that make forests more prone to wildfires.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 25, 2022

I checked the little pine needle burrows where people sometimes slept.

From New York Times ● Mar. 5, 2020

The spiny, flat tail of layered pine needle quills.

From "Willodeen" by Katherine Applegate

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023