sycamore

[ sik-uh-mawr, -mohr ]

/ ˈsɪk əˌmɔr, -ˌmoʊr /

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noun

Also called buttonwood. any of several North American plane trees, especially Platanus occidentalis, having shallowly lobed ovate leaves, globular seed heads, and wood valued as timber.

British. the sycamore maple.

a tree, Ficus sycomorus, of the Near East, related to the common fig, bearing an edible fruit.

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Origin of sycamore

1300–50; Middle English sicomore<Old French <Latin sȳcomorus<Greek sȳkómoros, equivalent to sŷko(n) fig + mór(on) mulberry + -os noun suffix, apparently by folk etymology <Semitic; compare Hebrew shiqmāh sycamore

Words nearby sycamore

Sybarite, Sybaritic, Sybil, sybo, sycamine, sycamore, sycamore maple, syce, sycee, sycon, syconium

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use sycamore in a sentence

Beside the Scola Brothers Grocery is a sycamore, its branches silhouetted against the white wall.
Stanley Booth on the Life and Hard Times of Blues Genius Furry Lewis|Stanley Booth|June 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“A Time to Kill is very autobiographical, and so is Sycamore Row,” Grisham acknowledged.
Still Killing Time: John Grisham Talks Broadway and “Sycamore Row”|Thane Rosenbaum|October 24, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The two came to America in 1946, and he grew up in Sycamore.
Child-Murder Arrest After 53 Years|Winston Ross|August 6, 2011|DAILY BEAST
In 1977, back-up singer/girlfriend Gloria Jones wrapped their purple Mini around a sycamore tree.
'T-Rex' Will Never Be Extinct|Simon Doonan|August 13, 2010|DAILY BEAST

I found Miss Goodwin still sitting where I had left her, under the sycamore before the house.
The Idyl of Twin Fires|Walter Prichard Eaton
We moved across the dewy lawn to a bench beneath the sycamore that guarded the house, and sat down.
The Idyl of Twin Fires|Walter Prichard Eaton
Its banks are lined with tall forests of cotton-wood and sycamore, and its bottoms are wide and fertile.
Early Western Travels 1748-1846, Volume XVI|Various
He must have been as much surprised, when going out of the chapel as Zaccheus was when he dropped down out of the sycamore tree.
The Sheepfold and the Common, Vol. II (of 2)|Timothy East
The sycamore was sure to fall anyway, and in falling it would certainly crush some of the trees around it.
Rescue Dog of the High Pass|James Arthur Kjelgaard

British Dictionary definitions for sycamore

sycamore

/ (ˈsɪkəˌmɔː) /

noun

a Eurasian maple tree, Acer pseudoplatanus, naturalized in Britain and North America, having five-lobed leaves, yellow flowers, and two-winged fruits

US and Canadian an American plane tree, Platanus occidentalisSee plane tree

Also: sycomore a moraceous tree, Ficus sycomorus, of N Africa and W Asia, having an edible figlike fruit

Word Origin for sycamore

C14: from Old French sicamor, from Latin sӯcomorus, from Greek sukomoros, from sukon fig + moron mulberry

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