1.
[syn: eastern hemlock, Canadian hemlock, spruce pine, Tsuga canadensis]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Hemlock \Hem"lock\, n. [OE. hemeluc, humloc, AS. hemlic,
hymlic.]
1. (Bot.) The name of several poisonous umbelliferous herbs
having finely cut leaves and small white flowers, as the
Cicuta maculata, Cicuta bulbifera, and Cicuta
virosa, and the Conium maculatum. See Conium.
[1913 Webster]
Note: The potion of hemlock administered to Socrates is by
some thought to have been a decoction of Cicuta
virosa, or water hemlock, by others, of Conium
maculatum.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Bot.) An evergreen tree common in North America (Abies
Canadensis or Tsuga Canadensis); hemlock spruce.
[1913 Webster]
The murmuring pines and the hemlocks. --Longfellow.
[1913 Webster]
3. The wood or timber of the hemlock tree.
[1913 Webster]
Ground hemlock, or Dwarf hemlock. See under Ground.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Spruce \Spruce\ (spr[udd]s), n. [OE. Spruce or Pruse, Prussia,
Prussian. So named because it was first known as a native of
Prussia, or because its sprouts were used for making, spruce
beer. Cf. Spruce beer, below, Spruce, a.]
1. (Bot.) Any coniferous tree of the genus Picea, as the
Norway spruce (Picea excelsa), and the white and black
spruces of America (Picea alba and Picea nigra),
besides several others in the far Northwest. See Picea.
[1913 Webster]
2. The wood or timber of the spruce tree.
[1913 Webster]
3. Prussia leather; pruce. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
Spruce, a sort of leather corruptly so called for
Prussia leather. --E. Phillips.
[1913 Webster]
Douglas spruce (Bot.), a valuable timber tree (Pseudotsuga
Douglasii) of Northwestern America.
Essence of spruce, a thick, dark-colored, bitterish, and
acidulous liquid made by evaporating a decoction of the
young branches of spruce.
Hemlock spruce (Bot.), a graceful coniferous tree (Tsuga
Canadensis) of North America. Its timber is valuable, and
the bark is largely used in tanning leather.
Spruce beer. [G. sprossenbier; sprosse sprout, shoot (akin
to E. sprout, n.) + bier beer. The word was changed into
spruce beer because the beer came from Prussia (OE.
Spruce), or because it was made from the sprouts of the
spruce. See Sprout, n., Beer, and cf. Spruce, n.] A
kind of beer which is tinctured or flavored with spruce,
either by means of the extract or by decoction.
Spruce grouse. (Zool.) Same as Spruce partridge, below.
Spruce leather. See Spruce, n., 3.
Spruce partridge (Zool.), a handsome American grouse
(Dendragapus Canadensis) found in Canada and the
Northern United States; -- called also Canada grouse.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
Tsuga canadensis
n 1: common forest tree of the eastern United States and Canada;
used especially for pulpwood [syn: eastern hemlock,
Canadian hemlock, spruce pine, Tsuga canadensis]