ELM

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does elm mean? 

• ELM (noun)
  The noun ELM has 2 senses:

1. any of various trees of the genus Ulmus: important timber or shade trees

2. hard tough wood of an elm tree; used for e.g. implements and furniture

  Familiarity information: ELM used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ELM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of various trees of the genus Ulmus: important timber or shade trees

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

elm; elm tree

Hypernyms ("elm" is a kind of...):

tree (a tall perennial woody plant having a main trunk and branches forming a distinct elevated crown; includes both gymnosperms and angiosperms)

Meronyms (substance of "elm"):

elm; elmwood (hard tough wood of an elm tree; used for e.g. implements and furniture)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "elm"):

Ulmus alata; wing elm; winged elm (North American elm having twigs and young branches with prominent corky projections)

rock elm; Ulmus thomasii (tall widely distributed elm of eastern North America)

red elm; September elm; Ulmus serotina (autumn-flowering elm of southeastern United States)

guernsey elm; Jersey elm; Ulmus campestris sarniensis; Ulmus campestris wheatleyi; Ulmus sarniensis; wheately elm (a variety of the English elm with erect branches and broader leaves)

red elm; slippery elm; Ulmus rubra (North American elm having rough leaves that are red when opening; yields a hard wood)

Chinese elm; dwarf elm; Siberian elm; Ulmus pumila (fast-growing shrubby Asian tree naturalized in United States for shelter or ornament)

English elm; European elm; Ulmus procera (broad spreading rough-leaved elm common throughout Europe and planted elsewhere)

Chinese elm; Ulmus parvifolia (small fast-growing tree native to Asia; widely grown as shelterbelts and hedges)

Ulmus laevis; water elm (Eurasian elm closely resembling the American elm; thrives in a moist environment)

Huntingdon elm; Ulmus hollandica vegetata (erect vigorous hybrid ornamental elm tree)

Dutch elm; Ulmus hollandica (any of various hybrid ornamental European shade trees ranging from dwarf to tall)

Ulmus glabra; witch elm; wych elm (Eurasian elm often planted as a shade tree)

cedar elm; Ulmus crassifolia (elm of southern United States and Mexico having spreading pendulous corky branches)

European field elm; smooth-leaved elm; Ulmus carpinifolia (European elm with lustrous smooth leaves used as an ornamental)

American elm; rock elm; Ulmus americana; water elm; white elm (large ornamental tree with graceful gradually spreading branches common in eastern North America)

Holonyms ("elm" is a member of...):

genus Ulmus; Ulmus (type genus of family Ulmaceae; deciduous trees having simple serrate leaves; widely distributed in temperate regions)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Hard tough wood of an elm tree; used for e.g. implements and furniture

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

elm; elmwood

Hypernyms ("elm" is a kind of...):

wood (the hard fibrous lignified substance under the bark of trees)

Holonyms ("elm" is a substance of...):

elm; elm tree (any of various trees of the genus Ulmus: important timber or shade trees)

 Context examples 

And the shadow of the elm must mean the farther end of the shadow, otherwise the trunk would have been chosen as the guide.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Also called Indian elm, red elm, slippery elm, sweet elm, Ulmus fulva, and Ulmus rubra.

(Gray elm, NCI Dictionary)

Also called gray elm, red elm, slippery elm, sweet elm, Ulmus fulva, and Ulmus rubra.

(Indian elm, NCI Dictionary)

An herbal tea mixture that contains burdock root, Indian rhubarb root, sheep sorrel, and slippery elm bark.

(Essiac, NCI Dictionary)

The avenue ran through a noble park, between lines of ancient elms, and ended in a low, widespread house, pillared in front after the fashion of Palladio.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

An herbal formula containing burdock root (Arctium lappa), Turkey rhubarb root (Rheum palmatum), sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella), and slippery elm bark (Ulmus fulva) with potential immunostimulating, anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor activities.

(Essiac, NCI Thesaurus)

As the elms bent to one another, like giants who were whispering secrets, and after a few seconds of such repose, fell into a violent flurry, tossing their wild arms about, as if their late confidences were really too wicked for their peace of mind, some weatherbeaten ragged old rooks'-nests, burdening their higher branches, swung like wrecks upon a stormy sea.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“And now, friend, I will myself show you a vantage of the long-bow. I pray you to speed a bolt against yonder shield with all your force. It is an inch of elm with bull's hide over it.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And then, at last, we saw the formless mass of the huge Crawley elm looming before us in the gloom, and there was the broad village street with the glimmer of the cottage windows, and the high front of the old George Inn, glowing from every door and pane and crevice, in honour of the noble company who were to sleep within that night.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And now vegetation matured with vigour; Lowood shook loose its tresses; it became all green, all flowery; its great elm, ash, and oak skeletons were restored to majestic life; woodland plants sprang up profusely in its recesses; unnumbered varieties of moss filled its hollows, and it made a strange ground-sunshine out of the wealth of its wild primrose plants: I have seen their pale gold gleam in overshadowed spots like scatterings of the sweetest lustre.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)