Buttonwood
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The common name given to at least three species of shrub or tree.; The mangrove tree (Conocarpus erectus, family Combretaceae) a tropical and subtropical species.
"On the opposite bank was a fresh ’gator wallow. The mud had been packed smooth where they turned and rolled their hard bodies. Penny dropped to his haunches behind a buttonwood bush."
- 2 very large spreading plane tree of eastern and central North America to Mexico wordnet
- 3 The common name given to at least three species of shrub or tree.; The American sycamore or American plane tree (Platanus occidentalis, family Platanaceae).
"1824, Washington Irving (as Geoffrey Crayon), “Wolfert Webber, or Golden Dreams” in Tales of a Traveller, Volume 2, Part 4, Philadelphia: H.C. Carey & I. Lea, p. 55, Thus quietly and comfortably did this excellent family vegetate under the shade of a mighty buttonwood tree, which by little and little grew so great as entirely to overshadow their palace."
- 4 The common name given to at least three species of shrub or tree.; California sycamore or western sycamore (Platanus racemosa).
Example
More examples"On the opposite bank was a fresh ’gator wallow. The mud had been packed smooth where they turned and rolled their hard bodies. Penny dropped to his haunches behind a buttonwood bush."
Etymology
From button + wood.
Related phrases
More for "buttonwood"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.