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

Take bark of white poplar root, boil it thick, and add a little spirit, and then lay it on the stomach.

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

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

The Athabaska below Fort MacMurray is a noble stream, one-third of a mile wide, deep, steady, unmarred; the banks are covered with unbroken virginal forests of tall white poplar, balsam poplar, spruce, and birch.

From The Arctic Prairies : a Canoe-Journey of 2,000 Miles in Search of the Caribou; Being the Account of a Voyage to the Region North of Aylemer Lake by Seton, Ernest Thompson