box elder

American  

noun

1. a North American maple, Acer negundo, having light gray-brown bark, pinnate, coarsely toothed leaves, and dry, winged fruit, cultivated as a shade tree, and yielding a light, soft wood used in making furniture, woodenware, etc.

---

box elder British  

noun

1. Also called: ash-leaved maple.  a medium-sized fast-growing widely cultivated North American maple, Acer negundo , which has compound leaves with lobed leaflets

---

Etymology

Origin of box elder

An Americanism dating back to 1780–90

Example Sentences

Several months of research led Barclay to discover that the insect, which resembles the common North American box elder bug, is actually most closely related to to Arocatus roeselii.

From Time Magazine Archive

Papa said, “It’s not much of a tree, just an old box elder snag. There’s not a limb on it.”

From "Where the Red Fern Grows" by Wilson Rawls

Its huge limbs spread out over the small birch, ash, box elder, and water oak as if it alone were their protector.

From "Where the Red Fern Grows" by Wilson Rawls

I heard the “Bam, bam, bam” of a woodpecker high in the top of a box elder snag.

From "Where the Red Fern Grows" by Wilson Rawls

His right foot was wedged in the fork of a broken box elder limb.

From "Where the Red Fern Grows" by Wilson Rawls