oleaster

American  

[oh-lee-as-ter] / ˌoʊ liˈæs tər /

noun

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

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oleaster British  

/ 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 called: wild olive.  a wild specimen of the cultivated olive

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Etymology

Origin of oleaster

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

Example Sentences

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

From The Georgics by Virgil

—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 Notes and Queries, Vol. IV, Number 91, July 26, 1851 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by Various

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

From Notes and Queries, Vol. IV, Number 103, October 18, 1851 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by Various

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 Sylva, Vol. 1 (of 2) Or A Discourse of Forest Trees by Nisbet, John

El�agna�ce�, the oleaster family of plants, a small nat. ord. of apetalous dicotyledons scattered over the northern regions.

From The New Gresham Encyclopedia Volume 4, Part 2: Ebert to Estremadura by Various