# oak

Pronunciation: say "OHK" US /oʊk/, UK /əʊk/

## Noun

1. Any tree of the genus Quercus, which bears acorns and has notably strong wood; the familiar kinds of England and northeastern North America shed their deeply lobed leaves each fall.
   - Simple: A tree that grows acorns and has leaves with deep, wavy edges and very strong wood.
   - _A massive oak shaded the far end of the churchyard._
   - _Higher up the slope, pale birches gave way to dense stands of oaks._
2. The strong wood of the oak tree.
   - Simple: Wood that comes from an oak tree.
   - _The staircase was carved from oak that had seasoned for years in the barn._
   - _Oak darkens slowly as it ages and takes a high polish._
4. Any tree that resembles the typical oaks of the genus Quercus in some ways but belongs to another genus.
   - Simple: A tree that is like a true oak in some ways but belongs to a different group.
   - _A botanist pointed out that the oak shading the courtyard belongs to a different genus and merely resembles the acorn-bearing kind._
   - _Cabinetmakers value several tropical oaks for their striking grain, though none of them belongs to the genus Quercus._
5. Poison oak: any of the plants of the genus Toxicodendron, in the family Anacardiaceae, that resemble true oaks in some ways.
   - Simple: Poison oak, a plant that is not a real oak but looks a bit like one.
   - _After the hike, she found an itchy rash where poison oak had brushed her ankles._
   - _The county brings in goats every spring to clear poison oak from the hillsides._
6. A rich brown color resembling that of oak wood.
   - Simple: A deep brown color, like the color of oak wood.
   - _The designer paired soft cream with a deep oak on the bedroom walls._
   - _Her leather boots come in black or oak._
8. In wine, the flavor imparted by contact with oak.
   - Simple: In wine, a taste that comes from the oak wood the wine was kept in.
   - _This chardonnay has too much oak for my taste._
   - _The winemaker wanted just a hint of oak behind the dark fruit._

## Adjective

3. Made of the wood or timber of the oak tree.
   - Simple: Made from the wood of an oak tree.
   - _Heavy oak beams run across the ceiling of the farmhouse kitchen._
   - _She found an oak chest at the flea market and refinished it herself._
7. Of a deep, warm brown, the color of oak wood.
   - Simple: Having a deep brown color, like oak wood.
   - _The car's seats are covered in soft oak leather._
   - _He wore an oak suede jacket over a plain white shirt._

## Verb

9. To expose wine or another drink to oak so that the wood imparts its flavors.
   - Simple: To keep wine in contact with oak wood so it takes on the wood's taste.
   - _Some producers oak their white wines only lightly, so the fruit still comes through._
   - _The winery oaked half the vintage and left the rest in steel tanks._

## Other meanings

- (noun) The she-oaks in Allocasuarina and Casuarina, of family Casuarinaceae
- (noun) Various species called silky oak, in family Proteaceae
- (noun) Various tanbark oak or stone oak species in family Fagaceae, genera Lithocarpus and Notholithocarpus.
- (noun) Lagunaria, white oak, in family Malvaceae
- (noun) The outer (lockable) door of a set of rooms in a college or similar institution. (Often in the phrase sport one's oak.)

## Origin

Inherited from Middle English ook or oke, from Old English āc, from Proto-West Germanic *aik and Proto-Germanic *aiks, going back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyǵ- (“oak”). It is related to Dutch eik, German Eiche and Swedish ek, and more distantly to Latin aesculus and Lithuanian ąžuolas (“oak”).

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/oak (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).