screw pine

noun

any tropical Asian tree or shrub of the genus Pandanus, having a palmlike or branched stem, long, narrow, rigid, spirally arranged leaves and aerial roots, and bearing an edible fruit.

Origin of screw pine

First recorded in 1830–40

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for screw pine

Historical Examples of screw pine

The orang had grasped a screw-pine, and he held on, but he struggled no more.
Four Young Explorers
Oliver Optic
The material used is toquilla straw, the mid-rib of the screw-pine (Carlodovica palmata).
Commercial Geography
Jacques W. Redway
Most of these parasols, prepared from the leaves of the screw-pine, are imported hither from China.
Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume II
Karl Ritter von Scherzer

British Dictionary definitions for screw pine

screw pine

noun

any of various pandanaceous plants of the Old World tropical genus Pandanus, having a spiral mass of pineapple-like leaves and heavy conelike fruits

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