any deciduous or evergreen tree or shrub of the fagaceous genus Quercus, having acorns as fruits and lobed leaves
See also holm oak, cork oak, durmastthe wood of any of these trees, used esp as building timber and for making furniture (as modifier): an oak table any of various trees that resemble the oak, such as the poison oak, silky oak, and Jerusalem oak the leaves of an oak tree, worn as a garland
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
oak /oʊk/USA pronunciation
n.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- Plant Biology[countable] a tree or shrub of the beech family, which bears the acorn as its fruit.
- Furniture[uncountable] the hard, long-lasting wood of such a tree.
oak
(ōk),USA pronunciation n.
oak′like′, adj.
- Plant Biologyany tree or shrub belonging to the genus Quercus, of the beech family, bearing the acorn as fruit.
- Furniturethe hard, durable wood of such a tree, used in making furniture and in construction.
- the leaves of this tree, esp. as worn in a chaplet.
- Furnitureanything made of the wood of this tree, as an item of furniture, a door, etc.
- British Terms sport one's oak, (of a university student) to indicate that one is not at home to visitors by closing the outer door of one's lodgings.
- bef. 900; Middle English ook, Old English āc; cognate with Dutch eik, German Eiche
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