greenheart

[ green-hahrt ]

noun
  1. a South American tree, Ocotea (or Nectandra) rodiei, of the laurel family, yielding a hard, durable wood often used for wharves and bridges and in shipbuilding.

  2. any of certain other timber trees of tropical America.

  1. their valuable greenish wood.

Origin of greenheart

1
First recorded in 1750–60; green + heart

Words Nearby greenheart

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use greenheart in a sentence

  • There was a tiny splash, a laugh, and the little greenheart rod flicked a trout high over his head.

    Uncanny Tales | Various
  • The best greenheart and oak ribs were used, being carefully dressed and of large size.

  • Her sides are some eighteen inches thick, and sheathed and resheathed with "greenheart" to help her in battering the ice.

    A Labrador Doctor | Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
  • The ice-skin is of greenheart, and covers the whole ship's side from the keel to 18 inches from the sheer strake.

  • Some people prefer greenheart or Wasahba for tips, but lancewood or red cedar is the best, I think.

    Black Bass | Charles Barker Bradford

British Dictionary definitions for greenheart

greenheart

/ (ˈɡriːnˌhɑːt) /


noun
  1. Also called: bebeeru a tropical American lauraceous tree, Ocotea (or Nectandra) rodiaei, that has dark green durable wood and bark that yields the alkaloid bebeerine

  2. any of various similar trees

  1. the wood of any of these trees

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012