oleaster

[ oh-lee-as-ter ]

noun

1. an ornamental shrub or small tree, Elaeagnus angustifolia, of Eurasia, having fragrant yellow flowers and an olivelike fruit.

oleaster

/ ˌəʊlɪˈæstə /

noun

1. any of several shrubs of the genus Elaeagnus, esp E. angustifolia, of S Europe, Asia, and North America, having silver-white twigs, yellow flowers, and an olive-like fruit: family Elaeagnaceae
2. Also calledwild olive a wild specimen of the cultivated olive

Word History and Origins

Origin of oleaster¹

before 1000; Middle English < Latin: wild olive tree, derivative of olea olive

Word History and Origins

Origin of oleaster¹

Latin: from olea; see olive , oil

Example Sentences

Those attuned to nature’s clues will spot the trees on the streets change from usual suspects to rarer salt-tolerant species, like oleasters, just before the sea appears.

From The Guardian

Some punster will say, respecting oleaster, that it is olea sterilis.

From Project Gutenberg

—Can any of your correspondents tell me why the termination aster is used in a depreciatory sense in Latin, as poetaster, a bad poet; oleaster, the wild olive; pinaster, the wild pine?

From Project Gutenberg

Olive be admitted, tho’ it produce no other fruit than the verdure of the leaf; nor will it kindly breath our air, nor the less tender oleaster, without the indulgent winter-house take them in.

From Project Gutenberg

Take for a sign the plenteous growth hard by Of oleaster, and the fields strewn wide With woodland berries.

From Project Gutenberg