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Weeping willow   /wˈipɪŋ wˈɪlˌoʊ/   Listen
noun
Weeping willow  n.  (Bot.) A tree (Salix babylonica) of the willow family with slender leaves, native to China, whose branches grow very long and slender, and hang down almost perpendicularly. It grows best where soil is moist, as by the banks of streams and is widely cultivated as an ornamental tree.
Synonyms: Babylonian weeping willow.



Willow  n.  
1.
(Bot.) Any tree or shrub of the genus Salix, including many species, most of which are characterized often used as an emblem of sorrow, desolation, or desertion. "A wreath of willow to show my forsaken plight." Hence, a lover forsaken by, or having lost, the person beloved, is said to wear the willow. "And I must wear the willow garland For him that's dead or false to me."
2.
(Textile Manuf.) A machine in which cotton or wool is opened and cleansed by the action of long spikes projecting from a drum which revolves within a box studded with similar spikes; probably so called from having been originally a cylindrical cage made of willow rods, though some derive the term from winnow, as denoting the winnowing, or cleansing, action of the machine. Called also willy, twilly, twilly devil, and devil.
Almond willow, Pussy willow, Weeping willow. (Bot.) See under Almond, Pussy, and Weeping.
Willow biter (Zool.) the blue tit. (Prov. Eng.)
Willow fly (Zool.), a greenish European stone fly (Chloroperla viridis); called also yellow Sally.
Willow gall (Zool.), a conical, scaly gall produced on willows by the larva of a small dipterous fly (Cecidomyia strobiloides).
Willow grouse (Zool.), the white ptarmigan. See ptarmigan.
Willow lark (Zool.), the sedge warbler. (Prov. Eng.)
Willow ptarmigan (Zool.)
(a)
The European reed bunting, or black-headed bunting. See under Reed.
(b)
A sparrow (Passer salicicolus) native of Asia, Africa, and Southern Europe.
Willow tea, the prepared leaves of a species of willow largely grown in the neighborhood of Shanghai, extensively used by the poorer classes of Chinese as a substitute for tea.
Willow thrush (Zool.), a variety of the veery, or Wilson's thrush. See Veery.
Willow warbler (Zool.), a very small European warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus); called also bee bird, haybird, golden wren, pettychaps, sweet William, Tom Thumb, and willow wren.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Weeping willow" Quotes from Famous Books



... shrub bearing a fruit, the stone of which was very similar to that of the quandang (Fusanus acuminatus) although there was no resemblance either in the form of the tree or of the flower. This shrub was not unlike the weeping willow in its growth, and the fruit, which grew at the extremities of the drooping branches, had the shape of a pear and a black ring at the broad end. The crop then on the tree was unripe, and was probably a second one; the flower ...
— Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, Vol 2 (of 2) • Thomas Mitchell

... longest way, round the outside of the garden, so as to avoid meeting any one. At the farthest end they came to a little garden-gate which led directly to the secluded summer-house. Close to the little house were two old nut-trees and a weeping willow, with thick pendent branches, and behind, far away into the distance, stretched the soft green meadows. Far and near, all was perfectly still. Uncle Titus had brought several thick books with him, under each arm, for he thought he should like to take possession at once, ...
— Uncle Titus and His Visit to the Country • Johanna Spyri

... simply marked with little marble blocks, which do not rise more than six inches above the ground. In the highest part of the grounds was the open grave, by the side of the husband, James Mott, who was buried about twelve years ago. Above the grave spread the branches of an aspen tree, and near it is a weeping willow. While thousands stood about, the coffin was reverently, solemnly, and silently lowered. The grave was then filled up, the friends turned away, and ...
— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I • Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage

... he wound, When lo! forth starting at the sound, From underneath an aged oak That slanted from the islet rock, A damsel guider of its way, A little skiff shot to the bay, That round the promontory steep Led its deep line in graceful sweep, Eddying, in almost viewless wave, The weeping willow twig to rave, And kiss, with whispering sound and slow, The beach of pebbles bright as snow. The boat had touched this silver strand Just as the Hunter left his stand, And stood concealed amid the brake, To view this Lady of the Lake. The maiden paused, ...
— The Lady of the Lake • Sir Walter Scott



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