terebinth

American  

[ter-uh-binth] / ˈtɛr ə bɪnθ /

noun

1. a Mediterranean tree, Pistacia terebinthus, of the cashew family, yielding Chian turpentine.

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terebinth British  

/ ˈtɛrɪbɪnθ /

noun

1. a small anacardiaceous tree, Pistacia terebinthus, of the Mediterranean region, having winged leafstalks and clusters of small flowers, and yielding a turpentine

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Etymology

Origin of terebinth

1350–1400; < Latin terebinthus < Greek terébinthos turpentine tree; replacing Middle English therebinte < Middle French < Latin, as above

Example Sentences

Two telltale substances in a salt clinched the new finding: tartaric acid and resin from the terebinth tree.

From Time Magazine Archive

Tartaric acid occurs in large amounts only in grapes, and terebinth resin was a wine preservative used all over the ancient Near East up through Roman times.

From Time Magazine Archive

But south of the Lebanon forest trees were scarce; the terebinth was so unfamiliar a sight in the landscape as to become an object of worship or a road-side mark.

From Patriarchal Palestine by Sayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)

So gleams the ivory, inlaid with care In chest of terebinth, or boxwood scrine; And o'er his milk-white neck and shoulders fair, 172 Twined with the pliant gold, streams down the warrior's hair.

From The Æneid of Virgil Translated into English Verse by E. Fairfax Taylor by Taylor, Edward Fairfax

How fair are the trees that befriend the home of man, The oak, and the terebinth, and the sycamore, The broad-leaved fig-tree and the delicate silvery olive.

From Songs out of Doors by Van Dyke, Henry