oak

See also: OAK and o'ak

English

white oak leaves and acorns (1)

Etymology

From Middle English ook, oke, aik, ake, from Old English āc (also as Old English ǣċ), from Proto-Germanic *aiks, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyǵ- (“oak”).

Pronunciation

Noun

oak (countable and uncountable, plural oaks)

  1. (countable) A deciduous tree with distinctive deeply lobed leaves, acorns, and notably strong wood, typically of England and northeastern North America, included in genus Quercus.
    • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], OCLC 752825175, page 048:
      It was not far from the house; but the ground sank into a depression there, and the ridge of it behind shut out everything except just the roof of the tallest hayrick. As one sat on the sward behind the elm, with the back turned on the rick and nothing in front but the tall elms and the oaks in the other hedge, it was quite easy to fancy it the verge of the prairie with the backwoods close by.
    • 1912, Zane Grey, Riders of the Purple Sage, Chapter 8
      Instead there were the white of aspens, streaks of branch and slender trunk glistening from the green of leaves, and the darker green of oaks, and through the middle of this forest, from wall to wall, ran a winding line of brilliant green which marked the course of cottonwoods and willows.
  2. (uncountable) The wood of the oak.
  3. A rich brown colour, like that of oak wood.
    oak colour:  
  4. Any tree of the genus Quercus, in family Fagaceae.
  5. Any tree of other genera and species of trees resembling typical oaks of genus Quercus in some ways.
    1. The she-oaks in Allocasuarina and Casuarina, of family Casuarinaceae
    2. Lagunaria, white oak, in family Malvaceae
    3. Various species called silky oak, in family Proteaceae
    4. Toxicodendron, poison oak, in family Anacardiaceae
    5. Various tanbark oak or stone oak species in family Fagaceae, genera Lithocarpus and Notholithocarpus.
  6. The outer (lockable) door of a set of rooms in a college or similar institution. (Often in the phrase "to sport one's oak").
    • 1930, Frank Richards, The Magnet, Prout's Lovely Black Eye
      It was hardly the thing for a master to sport his oak where another member of the staff was concerned.

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Translations

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Adjective

oak (not comparable)

  1. (colour) of a rich brown colour, like that of oak wood.
  2. made of oak wood or timber
    an oak table, oak beam, etc
  3. consisting of oak trees
    an oak wood, oak forest, etc

Synonyms

Translations

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Further reading

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