shade tree
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of shade tree
An Americanism dating back to 1800–10
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.
"We never planted avocado as our main crop. We introduced it as a shade tree for coffee plantations, and only later realised it could become a profitable business," he says.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
With no screens or cell phones to take our attention, we ‘worked’ outside in the back of a pickup under a shade tree with a big fan that kept the gnats away.
From Salon ● Jun. 5, 2025
That’s the sound of shade tree advocates unhappy that I’m mentioning crape myrtles in this list.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 2, 2025
At that size, it makes a great shade tree.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 14, 2021
At noon, when everything closed up, she sat under a shade tree in the square and fed the pieces of the pastry she’d bought to the pigeons.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
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.
