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tulip tree

noun
  1. Also called tulip poplar, yellow poplar. a tall tree, Liriodendron tulipifera, of the magnolia family, native to the eastern U.S., having large, cup-shaped, green and orange flowers: the state tree of Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
  2. African tulip tree.
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Origin of tulip tree

An Americanism dating back to 1695–1705
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for tulip tree

Historical Examples

  • The logs of which it was formed were all of the tulip-tree, and were nicely pared.

    Audubon and his Journals, Vol. 2

    Maria R. Audubon

  • The oak of England and the pine of Norway are not more typical than the tulip-tree.

  • I have been surprised to find so little about the tulip-tree in our literature.

  • The Indians knew the value of the tulip-tree as well as its beauty.

  • Before I rode off, I dug up some roots of the tulip-tree and chewed them, swallowing the juice, till I reached camp.

British Dictionary definitions for tulip tree

tulip tree

noun
  1. Also called: tulip poplar, yellow poplar a North American magnoliaceous forest tree, Liriodendron tulipifera, having tulip-shaped greenish-yellow flowers and long conelike fruits
  2. a similar and related Chinese tree, L. chinense
  3. any of various other trees with tulip-shaped flowers, such as the magnolia
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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