Adjacent Words

Acorn definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

A'CORN, n.
1. The seed or fruit of the oak; an oval nut which grows in a rough permanent cup.
The first settlers of Boston were reduced to the necessity of feeding on clams, muscles, ground nuts, and acorns.
2. In marine language, a small ornamental piece of wood, of a conical shape, fixed on the point of the spindle above the vane, on the mast head, to keep the vane from being blown off.
3. In natural history, the Lepas, a genus of shells of several species found on the British coast. The shell is multivalvular, unequal, and fixed by a stem; the valves are parallel and perpendicular, but they do not open, so that the animal performs its functions by an aperture on the top. These shells are always fixed to some solid body.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: fruit of the oak tree: a smooth thin-walled nut in a woody cup-shaped base

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English akern, from Old English æcern; akin to Middle High German ackeran acorns collectively, Old Irish áirne sloe, Lithuanian uoga berry Date: before 12th century the nut of the oak usually seated in or surrounded by a hard woody cupule of indurated bracts

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. the fruit of the oak, with a smooth nut in a rough cuplike base. Phrases and idioms: acorn barnacle a multivalve marine cirriped, Balanus balanoides, living on rocks. acorn worm any marine wormlike animal of the phylum Hemichordata, having a proboscis and gill slits, and inhabiting seashores. Etymology: OE æcern, rel. to æcer ACRE, later assoc. with OAK and CORN(1)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Acorn A"corn, n. [AS. [ae]cern, fr. [ae]cer field, acre; akin to D. aker acorn, Ger. ecker, Icel. akarn, Dan. agern, Goth. akran fruit, akrs field; -- orig. fruit of the field. See Acre.] 1. The fruit of the oak, being an oval nut growing in a woody cup or cupule. 2. (Naut.) A cone-shaped piece of wood on the point of the spindle above the vane, on the mast-head. 3. (Zo["o]l.) See Acorn-shell.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Oak Oak ([=o]k), n. [OE. oke, ok, ak, AS. [=a]c; akin to D. eik, G. eiche, OHG. eih, Icel. eik, Sw. ek, Dan. eeg.] 1. (Bot.) Any tree or shrub of the genus Quercus. The oaks have alternate leaves, often variously lobed, and staminate flowers in catkins. The fruit is a smooth nut, called an acorn, which is more or less inclosed in a scaly involucre called the cup or cupule. There are now recognized about three hundred species, of which nearly fifty occur in the United States, the rest in Europe, Asia, and the other parts of North America, a very few barely reaching the northern parts of South America and Africa. Many of the oaks form forest trees of grand proportions and live many centuries. The wood is usually hard and tough, and provided with conspicuous medullary rays, forming the silver grain. 2. The strong wood or timber of the oak. Note: Among the true oaks in America are: Barren oak, or Black-jack, Q. nigra. Basket oak, Q. Michauxii. Black oak, Q. tinctoria; -- called also yellow or quercitron oak. Bur oak (see under Bur.), Q. macrocarpa; -- called also over-cup or mossy-cup oak. Chestnut oak, Q. Prinus and Q. densiflora. Chinquapin oak (see under Chinquapin), Q. prinoides. Coast live oak, Q. agrifolia, of California; -- also called enceno. Live oak (see under Live), Q. virens, the best of all for shipbuilding; also, Q. Chrysolepis, of California. Pin oak. Same as Swamp oak. Post oak, Q. obtusifolia. Red oak, Q. rubra. Scarlet oak, Q. coccinea. Scrub oak, Q. ilicifolia, Q. undulata, etc. Shingle oak, Q. imbricaria. Spanish oak, Q. falcata. Swamp Spanish oak, or Pin oak, Q. palustris. Swamp white oak, Q. bicolor. Water oak, Q. aguatica. Water white oak, Q. lyrata. Willow oak, Q. Phellos. Among the true oaks in Europe are: Bitter oak, or Turkey oak, Q. Cerris (see Cerris). Cork oak, Q. Suber. English white oak, Q. Robur. Evergreen oak, Holly oak, or Holm oak, Q. Ilex. Kermes oak, Q. coccifera. Nutgall oak, Q. infectoria. Note: Among plants called oak, but not of the genus Quercus, are: African oak, a valuable timber tree (Oldfieldia Africana). Australian, or She, oak, any tree of the genus Casuarina (see Casuarina). Indian oak, the teak tree (see Teak). Jerusalem oak. See under Jerusalem. New Zealand oak, a sapindaceous tree (Alectryon excelsum). Poison oak, the poison ivy. See under Poison.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(acorns) An acorn is a pale oval nut that is the fruit of an oak tree. N-COUNT

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

You will ride a horse foaled by an acorn, i.e. the gallows, called also the Wooden and Three-legged Mare. You will be hanged.--See THREE-LEGGED MARE.