JERUSALEM THORN

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does Jerusalem thorn mean? 

• JERUSALEM THORN (noun)
  The noun JERUSALEM THORN has 4 senses:

1. thorny Eurasian shrub with dry woody winged fruit

2. spiny tree having dark red edible fruits

3. large shrub or shrubby tree having sharp spines and pinnate leaves with small deciduous leaflets and sweet-scented racemose yellow-orange flowers; grown as ornamentals or hedging or emergency food for livestock; tropical America but naturalized in southern United States

4. East Indian spiny tree having twice-pinnate leaves and yellow flowers followed by flat pods; source of black catechu

  Familiarity information: JERUSALEM THORN used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• JERUSALEM THORN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Thorny Eurasian shrub with dry woody winged fruit

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

Christ's-thorn; Jerusalem thorn; Paliurus spina-christi

Hypernyms ("Jerusalem thorn" is a kind of...):

bush; shrub (a low woody perennial plant usually having several major stems)

Holonyms ("Jerusalem thorn" is a member of...):

genus Paliurus; Paliurus (thorny Eurasian shrubs)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Spiny tree having dark red edible fruits

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

Christ's-thorn; Jerusalem thorn; jujube; jujube bush; Ziziphus jujuba

Hypernyms ("Jerusalem thorn" is a kind of...):

bush; shrub (a low woody perennial plant usually having several major stems)

Meronyms (parts of "Jerusalem thorn"):

Chinese date; Chinese jujube; jujube (dark red plumlike fruit of Old World buckthorn trees)

Holonyms ("Jerusalem thorn" is a member of...):

genus Ziziphus; Ziziphus (spiny chiefly tropical American and Asiatic shrubs: jujubes)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Large shrub or shrubby tree having sharp spines and pinnate leaves with small deciduous leaflets and sweet-scented racemose yellow-orange flowers; grown as ornamentals or hedging or emergency food for livestock; tropical America but naturalized in southern United States

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

horsebean; Jerusalem thorn; Parkinsonia aculeata

Hypernyms ("Jerusalem thorn" is a kind of...):

bush; shrub (a low woody perennial plant usually having several major stems)

Holonyms ("Jerusalem thorn" is a member of...):

genus Parkinsonia; Parkinsonia (small genus of spiny shrubs or small trees)

Sense 4

Meaning:

East Indian spiny tree having twice-pinnate leaves and yellow flowers followed by flat pods; source of black catechu

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

Acacia catechu; catechu; Jerusalem thorn

Hypernyms ("Jerusalem thorn" is a kind of...):

acacia (any of various spiny trees or shrubs of the genus Acacia)

Meronyms (substance of "Jerusalem thorn"):

black catechu; catechu (extract of the heartwood of Acacia catechu used for dyeing and tanning and preserving fishnets and sails; formerly used medicinally)

Holonyms ("Jerusalem thorn" is a member of...):

genus Acacia (large genus of shrubs and trees and some woody vines of Central and South America, Africa, Australia and Polynesia: wattle; mimosa)