red osier

American  

noun

1. Also called red-osier dogwood.  a North American dogwood, Cornus sericea (orC. stolonifera ), having red twigs and branches and white fruits.

2. any willow having reddish twigs and branches used for basketry or wickerwork.

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red osier British  

noun

1. any of several willow trees that have red twigs used for basketwork

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Etymology

Origin of red osier

An Americanism dating back to 1800–10

Example Sentences

Before I had done with it my ribs showed through my skin and my back was like a red osier basket.

From The Lady of Blossholme by Haggard, Henry Rider

Here also grew the red osier, its large fruit now whitish.

From Canoeing in the wilderness by Thoreau, Henry David

Those spreading, pointed fingers of coral with a background of dazzling white are the topmost twigs of the red osier dogwood.

From Some Winter Days in Iowa by Lazell, Frederick John

The conspicuous berry-bearing bushes and trees along the shore were the red osier, with its whitish fruit, hobble-bush, mountain-ash, tree-cranberry, choke-cherry, now ripe, alternate cornel, and naked viburnum.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 02, No. 08, June 1858 by Various

There grew the beaked hazel, rue seven feet high, and red osier, whose bark the Indian said was good to smoke, "tobacco before white people came to this country, Indian tobacco."

From Canoeing in the wilderness by Thoreau, Henry David