sugar maple

noun

1. any of several maples having a sweet sap, especially Acer saccharum (the state tree of New York, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin), having a short trunk and long, curving branches, yielding a hard wood used for making furniture and being the chief source of maple sugar.

sugar maple

noun

1. a North American maple tree, Acer saccharum, that is grown as a source of sugar, which is extracted from the sap, and for its hard wood

Other Words From

• sugar-maple adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of sugar maple¹

An Americanism dating back to 1725–35

Example Sentences

On those roller coasters, I kept my glasses on, and the views of the surrounding Smoky Mountains, dotted with sugar maple trees and magnolias, were magnificent.

From Washington Post

With sugar maples, you’ll need 10 gallons of sap to make one quart of syrup.

From Popular-Science

Know your maple syrup numbersA really friendly sugar maple tree may yield sap that is almost 5% sugar by volume.

From Popular-Science

The sugar maple isn’t the only tree species that can provide us with tasty syrup.

From Popular-Science

After sticking the axe many times into a sugar maple tree in early spring, his wife noticed the water running out of the trunk.

From Popular-Science

The occurrence of the sugar maple adds another element of Indian subsistence.

From Project Gutenberg

At last the trail lay over a slope overlooking a little cove, where there stood a large sugar-maple.

From Project Gutenberg

Our sugar maple is less striking and beautiful in the bud, but the flowers are more graceful and fringelike.

From Project Gutenberg

Frank and his brother had both heard of the famous sugar-maple, though neither of them had ever seen it.

From Project Gutenberg

Nothing was heard for some moments but cries of joy, mingled with the words ‘sugar’ and ‘sugar-maple.’

From Project Gutenberg