trees

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of tree.

   Loggers cleared hundreds of trees from the hillside.

   Migrating birds rested in the trees along the river.

   Note

   A regular plural, made by adding -s, and it covers every kind of tree the singular names: oaks and palms, the shoe trees that hold a boot's shape, the frames inside saddles, and the cycle-free graphs of mathematics. Read carefully, because the same spelling is also the present-tense verb. In "the hound trees a raccoon" the word is a verb, while in "a row of trees" it is a noun.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of tree.

   A good coonhound trees its quarry and bays loudly until help comes.

   My grandfather trees his leather dress shoes every evening so they keep their shape.

   Note

   This form goes with he, she, it or a singular subject, and it usually takes an object that shows which meaning is at work. A hound trees a raccoon by chasing it up a tree, while a careful owner trees his shoes by fitting them with shoe trees. Without an object, an animal or person that trees is taking refuge in a tree. Its spelling twin is the plural of tree.

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