white poplar

American  

noun

1. Also called abele.  an Old World poplar, Populus alba, widely cultivated in the U.S., having the underside of the leaves covered with a dense silvery-white down.

2. the soft, straight-grained wood of this tree.

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white poplar British  

noun

1. Also called: abele.  a Eurasian salicaceous tree, Populus alba, having leaves covered with dense silvery-white hairs

2. another name for tulipwood

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Etymology

Origin of white poplar

An Americanism dating back to 1765–75

Example Sentences

Chinese white-birch plywood sandwiches sheets of white poplar wood between outer layers of birch veneer, which is peeled from logs that are typically harvested in Siberian forests.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 28, 2026

The arches over the doors were painted with black cows, white poplar trees, and owls.

From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan

So come, I prithee, Dellius mine; Let's sing our songs and drink our wine In that sequestered nook Where the white poplar and the pine Stand listening to the brook.

From Echoes from the Sabine Farm by Field, Roswell Martin

It is formed of an almost uninterrupted succession of sandhills crowned with a tolerably rich vegetation; on it grow the white poplar, the aleppo and the umbrella pines.

From In Troubadour-Land A Ramble in Provence and Languedoc by Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)

Sickness of Stomach.—Drink three or four times a day of the steep made from the bark of white poplar roots.

From Burroughs' Encyclopaedia of Astounding Facts and Useful Information, 1889 by Burroughs, Barkham