pollard
Americannoun
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a tree cut back nearly to the trunk, so as to produce a dense mass of branches.
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an animal, as a stag, ox, or sheep, having no horns.
verb (used with object)
noun
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an animal, such as a sheep or deer, that has either shed its horns or antlers or has had them removed
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a tree that has had its top cut off to encourage the formation of a crown of branches
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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pollardsimple
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pollardssimple
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have pollardedperfect
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has pollardedperfect
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am pollardingprogressive
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are pollardingprogressive
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is pollardingprogressive
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have been pollardingperfect progressive
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has been pollardingperfect progressive
Past
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pollardedsimple
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had pollardedperfect
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was pollardingprogressive
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were pollardingprogressive
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had been pollardingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pollard
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:
Mr McBride, who records ancient trees in Wales, said the oak had enormous cultural significance as it was a pollard - it had not grown in the field naturally.
From BBC ● Feb. 16, 2018
This permits the tree to develop knobbly structures called pollard heads, which form natural defenses against wound decay.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 17, 2015
The pollard heads are now the size of softballs, or larger.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 17, 2015
An old pollard in Savernake Forest that could date back to Saxon times.
From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2014
Then he slipped back against the pollard, the two ends grasped in his right hand....
From Men, Women and Guns by McNeile, H. C. (Herman Cyril)
It was intensely still, and no sound broke the silence save the intermittent croaking of some bull-frogs in the dark shadows of the pollards on the further bank.
From A Master of Mysteries by Walton, J. Ambrose
The only trees are dwarfish pollards, reduced to bare trunks with thin tufts of green atop by the practice of stripping off the sprouts every two or three years to make fodder for the goats.
From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 17, No. 102, June, 1876 by Various
Some of our common oaks bear their leaves green all winter; but they are generally pollards, and such as are shelter’d in warm corners and hedge rows.
From Sylva, Vol. 1 (of 2) Or A Discourse of Forest Trees by Nisbet, John
The stumps are called "pollards" and the trees "pollarded willows" whose discouraging task has been to grow a yearly crop of withes for the basket-makers; yet each spring finds them bristling with the new growth.
From Trees Worth Knowing by Rogers, Julia Ellen
By and by came a line of stunted pollards, a hamlet, and a little dreary cemetery.
From In the Days of My Youth by Edwards, Amelia Ann Blanford
Willows are coppiced — cut regularly to within an inch or two of the base to flush fresh growth — or pollarded, with cuts made higher up on the trunk or branches.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 6, 2024
In a pollarded tree, all the sprouts of the previous year are removed to their base each winter.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 17, 2015
This black pollarded poplar in Spain is one of more than 4,700 in Aguilar del Alfambra, which houses possibly the largest concentration of the species in Europe.
From BBC ● Dec. 31, 2014
On most mornings in San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza, elderly Asian women practice tai chi under the pollarded sycamore trees.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 23, 2014
They bounce through a string of small green towns where pollarded trees line sleepy canals.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Mr Stephen explained his team used an "ancient form of pruning" known as pollarding - where the upper parts of the tree are removed.
From BBC ● Mar. 19, 2024
Another option is to adopt a pruning regime known as pollarding, which maintains a tree at a given height permanently.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 17, 2015
After pollarding the oak produced "a good crop of acorns", said Mr Partridge.
From BBC ● Dec. 28, 2013
By cutting off the tops or pollarding such trees, a very great number of adventitious branches can be made to grow.
From Trees of the Northern United States Their Study, Description and Determination by Apgar, A. C. (Austin Craig)
But here it was, in this cavern, that he elaborated his system of reform, treating Christianity as a French peasant treats an oak tree, pollarding it, and lopping off every lateral, natural outgrowth.
From Castles and Cave Dwellings of Europe by Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
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.
