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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

white poplar

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

We have charming glimpses of him enjoying in company the hospitable shade of huge pine and white poplar on the grassy terrace of some rose-perfumed Italian garden with noisy fountain and hurrying stream.

From Horace and His Influence by Grant Showerman

The trunk is large, and very like that of the white poplar, and its leaf is like that of the elm.

From The Deipnosophists, or Banquet of the Learned of Athen?us by Athen?us

We are once more favored with a grass bed instead of one of dust, and with white poplar wood for fuel, instead of buffalo chips.

From Narrative of the March of Co. A, Engineers from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to Fort Bridger, Utah, and Return May 6 to October 3, 1858 by William P. Seville

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