from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
adjective Made of or as flexible as withes; tough.
adjective Wiry and agile.
noun A rope or band made of withes.
noun A long flexible twig, as that of an osier.
noun A tree or shrub having such twigs.
from The Century Dictionary.
Made of withes; like a withe; flexible and tough.
noun A willow of any species.
noun A withe; a twig; an osier.
noun A halter made of withes.
noun In ceramics, same as twig, 3.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
noun (Bot.) The osier willow (Salix viminalis). See Osier, n. (a).
noun A withe. See Withe, 1.
adjective Made of withes; like a withe; flexible and tough; also, abounding in withes.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
adjective archaic Flexible, like a withe.
noun The osierwillow (Salix viminalis).
noun A long flexibletwig of the osier; a withe.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
noun strong flexible twig
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[withe + –y. N., from Middle English withye, willow branch, from Old English wīthig, willow; see wei- in Indo-European roots.]
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Examples
The withy is a reasonable large tree, (for some have been found ten foot about) is fit to be planted on high banks, and ditch-sides within reach of water and the weeping sides of hills; because they extend their roots deeper than either sallows or willows.
I believe that the main issue withy intellectual property is indefinite or overly long protections (e.g. 75 years), and that is arguably a hindrance to economic growth.
'...perhaps you can get up at five in the morning, and go down to Cordery's Moor, and watch by the great withypollard which hangs over the backwater, where the otters breed sometimes, and then say, if otters at play in the water are not the merriest, lithest, gracefullest creatures you ever saw."
treeseed commented on the word withy
'...perhaps you can get up at five in the morning, and go down to Cordery's Moor, and watch by the great withy pollard which hangs over the backwater, where the otters breed sometimes, and then say, if otters at play in the water are not the merriest, lithest, gracefullest creatures you ever saw."
_Water Babies, Charles Kingsley, 1937
January 28, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word withy
another usage note on withies
March 14, 2008