Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Ivy?

\I"vy\, n.; pl. {Ivies}. [AS. [=i]fig; akin to OHG. ebawi, ebah, G. epheu.] (Bot.) A plant of the genus {Hedera} ({H. helix}), common in Europe. Its leaves are evergreen, dark, smooth, shining, and mostly five-pointed; the flowers yellowish and small; the berries black or yellow. The stem clings to walls and trees by rootlike fibers. Direct The clasping ivy where to climb. --Milton. Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sere. --Milton. {American ivy}. (Bot.) See {Virginia creeper}. {English ivy} (Bot.), a popular name in America for the ivy proper ({Hedera helix}). {German ivy} (Bot.), a creeping plant, with smooth, succulent stems, and fleshy, light-green leaves; a species of {Senecio} ({S. scandens}). {Ground ivy}. (Bot.) Gill ({Nepeta Glechoma}). {Ivy bush}. (Bot.) See {Mountain laurel}, under {Mountain}. {Ivy owl} (Zo["o]l.), the barn owl. {Ivy tod} (Bot.), the ivy plant. --Tennyson. {Japanese ivy} (Bot.), a climbing plant ({Ampelopsis tricuspidata}), closely related to the Virginia creeper. {Poison ivy} (Bot.), an American woody creeper ({Rhus Toxicodendron}), with trifoliate leaves, and greenish-white berries. It is exceedingly poisonous to the touch for most persons. {To pipe in an ivy leaf}, to console one's self as best one can. [Obs.] --Chaucer. {West Indian ivy}, a climbing plant of the genus {Marcgravia}.