DCHP-1 Online

whitewood

• 1 † n. any of several poplars, as Balm of Gilead and white poplar.

  See also: Balm of Gilead  white poplar  

  • 1760  White-wood, a species of the poplar which grows among maples, and the bitter cherry tree, are very plentiful.
  • 1860  Portage la Prairie was once famous for white wood, but now it would be with the greatest difficulty that a sufficient quantity of logs could be obtained to give even one hundred sound boards.
  • 1905  (1954)  As an ungent for scratches and sores, they [the Indians] know the value of a decoction of the gum-laden buds of the whitewood, or "Balm of Gilead poplar," mixed with deer fat in proper proportion.

• 2 n. the North American lime or linden tree, Tilia americana.

  See also: basswood  

  • 1852  . . . white-wood, or bass-wood, is a familiar ornamental and useful tree in the United States and Canada.
  • 1956  Basswood [is also called] whitewood.

• 3 n. West Coast See quote.

  • 1965  The latest mission from Canada to the U.K. was that on western white spruce [Picea glauca]. The demand for whitewood has sparked off a greater interest in this species from the B.C. Interior.