tree

noun Definitions

1. A perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, supporting branches and leaves, typically woody and much larger than a shrub.

   "The ancient oak tree provided shade for generations."

   "Planting more trees is crucial for carbon sequestration."

2. A hierarchical data structure consisting of nodes connected by edges, where each node has at most one parent and zero or more children.

   "A binary search tree allows for efficient data retrieval and sorting."

   "The file system is often represented as a tree structure."

3. In graph theory, an undirected graph in which any two vertices are connected by exactly one path, or equivalently, a connected acyclic graph.

   "Spanning trees are fundamental in network design algorithms."

4. A diagram or chart resembling a tree, especially one showing a family's ancestry or a classification.

   "She spent hours researching her family tree."

   "The phylogenetic tree illustrates the evolutionary relationships among species."

verb Definitions

1. To force (an animal or person) to climb a tree.

   "The dogs treed the raccoon."

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Etymology

From Old English 'trēow' (plural 'trēowu'), from Proto-Germanic '*trewą' (compare Old Frisian 'trē', Old Saxon 'trio', Old Norse 'tré', Gothic 'triu'), from Proto-Indo-European '*dóru' ('tree', 'wood').