spindle tree

British

noun

any of various shrubs or trees of the genus Euonymus, esp E. europaeus, of Europe and W Asia, typically having red fruits and yielding a hard wood formerly used in making spindles: family Celastraceae

"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

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spindle tree

Half hidden by a spindle tree, they were sitting on the grass in the middle of the lawn.

From A Love Episode by Émile Zola

In the nutmeg and spindle tree this additional coat is formed from above downwards, constituting in the former case a laciniated scarlet covering called mace.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 3 "Frost" to "Fyzabad" by Various

The fruit of which they make it comes from "Arabia the Happy," and the tree that I saw looks like a spindle tree, but the leaves are thicker, tougher, and greener.

From All About Coffee by William H. (William Harrison) Ukers

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