n. ont color='#AEB5C0'>[ OE. oke, ok, ak, AS. āc; akin to D. eik, G. eiche, OHG. eih, Icel. eik, Sw. ek, Dan. eeg. ]ont> ont color='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]ont>
1. (Bot.) Any tree or shrub of the genus Quercus. The oaks have alternate leaves, often variously lobed, and staminate flowers in catkins. The fruit is a smooth nut, called an od>acornod>, which is more or less inclosed in a scaly involucre called the cup or cupule. There are now recognized about three hundred species, of which nearly fifty occur in the United States, the rest in Europe, Asia, and the other parts of North America, a very few barely reaching the northern parts of South America and Africa. Many of the oaks form forest trees of grand proportions and live many centuries. The wood is usually hard and tough, and provided with conspicuous medullary rays, forming the silver grain. ont color='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]ont>
2. The strong wood or timber of the oak. ont color='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]ont>
☞ Among the true oaks in America are:
ong>Barren oakong>, or
ong>Black-jackong>, Quercus nigra. --
ong>Basket oakong>, Quercus Michauxii. --
ong>Black oakong>, Quercus tinctoria; -- called also yellow oak or quercitron oak. --
ong>Bur oakong> (see under Bur.), Quercus macrocarpa; -- called also over-cup or mossy-cup oak. --
ong>Chestnut oakong>, Quercus Prinus and Quercus densiflora. --
ong>Chinquapin oakong> (see under Chinquapin), Quercus prinoides. --
ong>Coast live oakong>, Quercus agrifolia, of California; -- also called enceno. --
ong>Live oakong> (see under Live), Quercus virens, the best of all for shipbuilding; also, Quercus Chrysolepis, of California. --
ong>Pin oakong>. Same as Swamp oak. --
ong>Post oakong>, Quercus obtusifolia. --
ong>Red oakong>, Quercus rubra. --
ong>Scarlet oakong>, Quercus coccinea. --
ong>Scrub oakong>, Quercus ilicifolia, Quercus undulata, etc. --
ong>Shingle oakong>, Quercus imbricaria. --
ong>Spanish oakong>, Quercus falcata. --
ong>Swamp Spanish oakong>, or
ong>Pin oakong>, Quercus palustris. --
ong>Swamp white oakong>, Quercus bicolor. --
ong>Water oakong>, Quercus aquatica. --
ong>Water white oakong>, Quercus lyrata. --
ong>Willow oakong>, Quercus Phellos. ont color='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]ont> Among the true oaks in Europe are:
ong>Bitter oakong>, or
ong>Turkey oakong>, Quercus Cerris (see Cerris). --
ong>Cork oakong>, Quercus Suber. --
ong>English white oakong>, Quercus Robur. --
ong>Evergreen oakong>,
ong>Holly oakong>, or
ong>Holm oakong>, Quercus Ilex. --
ong>Kermes oakong>, Quercus coccifera. --
ong>Nutgall oakong>, Quercus infectoria. ont color='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]ont>
☞ Among plants called oak, but not of the genus Quercus, are:
ong>African oakong>, a valuable timber tree (Oldfieldia Africana). -- ol>
ong>Australian oakong> or
ong>She oakong>ol>, any tree of the genus Casuarina (see Casuarina). --
ong>Indian oakong>, the teak tree (see Teak). --
ong>Jerusalem oakong>. See under Jerusalem. --
ong>New Zealand oakong>, a sapindaceous tree (Alectryon excelsum). --
ong>Poison oakong>, a shrub once not distinguished from poison ivy, but now restricted to Rhus toxicodendron or Rhus diversiloba. -- ol>
ong>Silky oakong> or
ong>Silk-bark oakong>ol>, an Australian tree (Grevillea robusta). ont color='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]ont>
ong>Green oakong>, oak wood colored green by the growth of the mycelium of certain fungi. --
ong>Oak appleong>, a large, smooth, round gall produced on the leaves of the American red oak by a gallfly (Cynips confluens). It is green and pulpy when young. --
ong>Oak beautyong> (Zool.), a British geometrid moth (Biston prodromaria) whose larva feeds on the oak. --
ong>Oak gallong>, a gall found on the oak. See 2d Gall. --
ong>Oak leatherong> (Bot.), the mycelium of a fungus which forms leatherlike patches in the fissures of oak wood. --
ong>Oak prunerong>. (Zool.) See Pruner, the insect. --
ong>Oak spangleong>, a kind of gall produced on the oak by the insect Diplolepis lenticularis. --
ong>Oak wartong>, a wartlike gall on the twigs of an oak. --
ong>The Oaksong>, one of the three great annual English horse races (the Derby and St. Leger being the others). It was instituted in 1779 by the on>Earl of Derbyon>, and so called from his estate. --
ong>To sport one's oakong>, to be “not at home to visitors, ” signified by closing the outer (oaken) door of one's rooms. ont color='#AEB5C0'>[ Cant, Eng. Univ. ]ont> ont color='#AEB5C0'>[ 1913 Webster ]ont>