• (RP) IPA: /tɹiː/, [t̠ɹ̠̊˔ʷɪi̯]
• (GA) enPR: trē, IPA: /tɹi/, [t̠ɹ̠̊˔ʷi]

tree (plural trees)

1. A perennial woody plant, not exactly defined, but differentiated from a shrub by its larger size (typically over a few meters in height) or growth habit, usually having a single (or few) main axis or trunk unbranched for some distance above the ground and a head of branches and foliage.

   Hyperion (tree) is the tallest living tree in the world.

   Birds have a nest in a tree in the garden.

   • 1992 April 5, "The Full House", Jeeves and Wooster, Series 3, Episode 2:

     B. Wooster: Of all the places on this great planet of ours, West Neck, Long Island, has chosen to be the most unexciting. The last time anything remotely interesting happened here was in 1842, when a tree fell over. They still talk about it in the village.

2. Any plant that is reminiscent of the above but not classified as a tree (in any botanical sense).

   the banana tree

3. An object made from a tree trunk and having multiple hooks or storage platforms.

   He had the choice of buying a scratching post or a cat tree.

4. A device used to hold or stretch a shoe open.

   He put a shoe tree in each of his shoes.

5. The structural frame of a saddle.
6. (graph theory) A connected graph with no cycles or, if the graph is finite, equivalently a connected graph with n vertices and n−1 edges.
7. (computing theory) A recursive data structure in which each node has zero or more nodes as children.
8. (graphical user interface) A display or listing of entries or elements such that there are primary and secondary entries shown, usually linked by drawn lines or by indenting to the right.

   We’ll show it as a tree list.

9. Any structure or construct having branches representing divergence or possible choices.

   family tree; skill tree

10. The structure or wooden frame used in the construction of a saddle used in horse riding.
11. (in the plural, slang) Marijuana.
12. (obsolete) A cross or gallows.

    Tyburn tree

    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981 ↗, Acts 10:39 ↗:

      {...}}whom [i.e., Jesus] they slew and hanged on a tree,

    • 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene ii], page 12 ↗:

      {smallcaps

13. (obsolete) Wood; timber.
    • , Wyclif Bible (2 Tim. ii. 20):

      In a great house ben not only vessels of gold and of silver but also of tree and of earth.

14. (chemistry) A mass of crystals, aggregated in arborescent forms, obtained by precipitation of a metal from solution.
15. (cartomancy) The fifth Lenormand card.
16. (uncountable, math) Alternative letter-case form of TREE#English|TREE

• French: arbre
• German: Baum
• Italian: albero
• Portuguese: árvore
• Russian: де́рево
• Spanish: árbol

• German: Baum
• Italian: albero

• German: Schuhspanner
• Russian: распо́рка

• French: arçon

• French: arçon
• Spanish: fuste

• German: Baum
• Italian: albero
• Portuguese: árvore
• Russian: де́рево

• German: Baum
• Italian: albero
• Portuguese: árvore
• Russian: де́рево

• German: Baum
• Italian: albero
• Russian: де́рево

tree (trees, present participle treeing; past and past participle treed)

1. (transitive) To chase (an animal or person) up a tree.

   The dog treed the cat.

   • 1897, Henry Howard, 18th Earl of Suffolk et al. (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Sport, London: Lawrence & Bullen, Volume I, p. 599,

     When hunted it [the jaguar] takes refuge in trees, and this habit is well known to hunters, who pursue it with dogs and pot it when treed.

2. (transitive) To place in a tree.

   Black bears can tree their cubs for protection, but grizzly bears cannot.

3. (transitive) To place upon a tree; to fit with a tree; to stretch upon a tree.

   to tree a boot

   • 1930, Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Chapter 14, p. 165,

     Two suits and an overcoat hung in the closet over three pairs of carefully treed shoes.

4. (intransitive) To take refuge in a tree.

• Italian: albero
• Spanish: enarbolar

tree (uncountable)

1. (mathematics) Fast growing function based on Kruskal's tree theorem.

tree (uncountable)

1. (math) Alternative letter-case form of TREE#English|TREE