maple
UK /ˈmeɪpl̩/ · US /ˈmeɪp(ə)l/ noun, adjective, proper noun
Forms maples Mapel
- noun Any member of any species of genus Acer, characterized by (usually) palmate, five-lobed leaves and winged seeds, and often grown for syrup or wood “Russian maple”
- noun (countable, UK) A small tree (Acer campestre), known as the common maple, field maple, or hedge maple, which has palmate leaves with five lobes and winged seeds, and is chiefly native to East Asia, Europe, North Africa, and North America.
- noun (countable) Often preceded by a descriptive word: a tree of the genus Acer; especially the sugar maple (Acer saccharum) native to North America which has brightly colored autumn foliage and is the primary source of maple syrup.
- noun (countable) Chiefly preceded by a descriptive word: a tree of a genus other than Acer which has an appearance or wood similar to an Acer tree. “Queensland maple”
- noun (uncountable) Wood of an Acer tree, valued for its attractive appearance and hardness; also, similar wood from a tree of a genus other than Acer; (countable) a particular type of such wood. “This table is made of maple and also has some fruitwood inlays.”
- noun (uncountable) The light-brown color of the wood of a maple tree (etymology 1, noun sense 3).
- noun (uncountable) The flavor of maple syrup made from the sap of a maple tree, or an imitation of that flavor. “What flavour is your ice-cream? Mine’s maple—it’s delicious.”
- adjective Of the light-brown colour of the wood of a maple tree (etymology 1, noun sense 3).
- adjective Of the flavour of, or made with, maple syrup.
- noun (New Zealand, archaic) Synonym of mapau (“any of several trees of New Zealand, especially in the genus Myrsine”).
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in West Virginia.
- proper noun A town in Wisconsin.
- proper noun An urban community in Vaughan, York Region, Ontario, Canada.
Synonyms
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English mapel (“tree of species Acer campestre, sole native maple of the British Isles); wood of such a tree; artistic representation of a maple leaf; a beam, pole, stake (?)”), from Old English *mapul (attested in mapulder (“maple tree”), mapultrēow (“maple tree”), etc.), from Proto-West Germanic *mapul (“maple tree”), from Proto-Germanic *mapulaz; further etymology uncertain, possibly from *masuraz (“type of wood with spots or veins, such as maple or walnut”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mos- (“skin sore”)) + *aplaz (“apple; fruit”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ébōl (“apple; apple tree”)).
The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun.
* Dutch meppel (dialectal)
* Old English mæsen (“maple”)
* Middle Low German mapeldorn
* Old High German mazaltra, mazzaltra (modern German Masseller, Maßholder; Mase (“scar”), Maser (“knob; offshoot; measle, speck”))
* Old Norse mǫpurr, mǫsurr (“maple”)
* Old Saxon mapulder
A variant of mapau, influenced by maple (etymology 1).
English surname, from the noun maple.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A tree of the genus Acer, including about fifty species. A. saccharinum is the rock maple, or sugar maple, from the sap of which sugar is made, in the United States, in great quantities, by evaporation; the red or swamp maple is A. rubrum; the silver maple, A. dasycarpum, having fruit wooly when young; the striped maple, A. Pennsylvanium, called also moosewood. The common maple of Europe is A. campestre, the sycamore maple is A. Pseudo-platanus, and the Norway maple is A. platanoides.
Etymology [AS. mapolder, mapulder, mapol; akin to Icel. möpurr; cf. OHG. mazzaltra, mazzoltra, G. massholder.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “maple”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details