# olive

Pronunciation: say "OL-iv" US /ˈɑ.lɪv/, UK /ˈɒ.lɪv/

## Noun

1. The small, oval fruit of the olive tree, eaten either unripe, when it is usually green, or ripe, when it is usually black.
   - Simple: A small oval fruit eaten green when unripe or black when ripe, often used in cooking.
   - _The recipe called for a handful of olives, pitted and halved._
   - _He picked a ripe olive straight from the branch and ate it._
2. The tree Olea europaea, grown around the Mediterranean since ancient times for its fruit and the oil pressed from it.
   - Simple: A Mediterranean tree grown since ancient times for its fruit and the oil made from it.
   - _The ancient olive in the courtyard still bears fruit every year._
   - _Groves of olives stretch across the hills of southern Spain._
3. A dark green with a yellowish tinge, like the color of an unripe olive.
   - Simple: A dark yellowish-green color, like an unripe olive.
   - _The designer chose olive for the fall collection's main coat._
   - _Deep olives and browns dominated the room's color scheme._
5. The wood obtained from the olive tree.
   - Simple: Wood that comes from the olive tree, often used for carving and small items.
   - _The cutting board was made of polished olive._
   - _Olive takes a beautiful finish when sanded smooth._
6. A dish made by seasoning a small slice of meat, rolling it up, and cooking it.
   - Simple: A thin slice of meat that is seasoned, rolled up, and cooked.
   - _The chef rolled each olive around a spoonful of herb stuffing._
   - _Traditional Sunday dinners often featured olives braised in rich gravy._
7. A ring in a plumbing compression joint, placed between the nut and the pipe and compressed during fastening to form a seal.
   - Simple: A small ring placed between the nut and the pipe in a plumbing joint, squeezed tight to make a seal.
   - _Tightening the nut compresses the olive against the pipe wall._
   - _He fitted brass olives to every joint under the sink._
8. An oval prominence of the medulla oblongata, the lowest part of the brain stem.
   - Simple: A small oval bump on the lower part of the brain stem.
   - _The olive forms a visible bulge on the surface of the medulla._
   - _Nerve fibers from the olive travel up to the cerebellum._
9. Any shell of the genus Oliva and related groups, named for its olive-like shape.
   - Simple: A smooth, oval sea shell named for its olive-like shape.
   - _A polished olive gleamed among the other shells in the display._
   - _Beachcombers often mistake young cones for olives._
10. An oystercatcher, any of the long-billed shore birds that make up the genus Haematopus. *(dialectal, UK)*
   - Simple: A black-and-white shore bird with a long orange bill that feeds on shellfish.
   - _At low tide the olives gathered to feed on the exposed mudflats._
   - _The fisherman spotted an olive picking at mussels on the rocks._

## Adjective

4. Of the gray-green shade seen in unripe olives.
   - Simple: Having a grayish-green color, like an unripe olive.
   - _His olive complexion deepened after a summer outdoors._
   - _The hills turned an olive shade in the dry heat._

## Origin

English took "olive" from Middle English "olyve," from Old French "olive" (olive, olive tree), from Latin "olīva." The Latin word came ultimately from a pre-Greek Mediterranean source: perhaps Etruscan or an early Greek form, and possibly from Proto-Berber "*wlw" (wild olive). It displaced the native Old English "eleberġe," literally "oil berry."

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