Phrase guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
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noun
A tree, Quercus petraea, the sessile oak.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Wood of the tree.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Superficially a compound of durmast + oak, but the origin of durmast is unclear and possibly a result of scribal error. The first edition Oxford English Dictionary suggests that Thomas Martyn's dictionary for gardeners and botanists (1798) originated the word through misreading dun mast ("light-brown acorn"), an interpretation also suggested by some earlier works going back to at least 1836, although a connection to Welsh derw (“oaks”) has also been suggested.
