linden

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Related to linden: linden tree, linden tea

lin·den

(lĭn′dən)

Any of various deciduous shade trees of the genus Tilia of the mallow family, having heart-shaped leaves and clusters of yellowish fragrant flowers that hang from a leaflike bract. Also called basswood, lime².

[Middle English, made of linden wood, from Old English, from lind, linden.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

linden

(ˈlɪndən)

(Plants) any of various tiliaceous deciduous trees of the N temperate genus Tilia, having heart-shaped leaves and small fragrant yellowish flowers: cultivated for timber and as shade trees. See also lime³, basswood

[C16: n use of obsolete adj linden, from Old English linde lime tree]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

lin•den

(ˈlɪn dən)

n.

1. any tree of the genus Tilia, as T. americana, of North America, having fragrant yellowish white flowers and heart-shaped toothed leaves.

2. the soft, light, white wood of any of these trees.

Compare basswood.

[1570–80; n. use of obsolete linden (adj.) of the linden, Middle English, Old English = lind(e) linden (c. Old Norse lind) + -en -en²]

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Noun	1.	linden - soft light-colored wood of any of various linden trees; used in making crates and boxes and in carving and millwork basswood linden tree, basswood, lime tree, linden, lime - any of various deciduous trees of the genus Tilia with heart-shaped leaves and drooping cymose clusters of yellowish often fragrant flowers; several yield valuable timber wood - the hard fibrous lignified substance under the bark of trees
	2.	linden - any of various deciduous trees of the genus Tilia with heart-shaped leaves and drooping cymose clusters of yellowish often fragrant flowers; several yield valuable timber linden tree, lime tree, basswood, lime genus Tilia, Tilia - deciduous trees with smooth usually silver-grey bark of North America and Europe and Asia: lime trees; lindens; basswood basswood, linden - soft light-colored wood of any of various linden trees; used in making crates and boxes and in carving and millwork American basswood, American lime, Tilia americana - large American shade tree with large dark green leaves and rounded crown small-leaved lime, small-leaved linden, Tilia cordata - large spreading European linden with small dark green leaves; often cultivated as an ornamental Tilia heterophylla, white basswood, cottonwood - American basswood of the Allegheny region Japanese lime, Japanese linden, Tilia japonica - medium-sized tree of Japan used as an ornamental silver lime, silver linden, Tilia tomentosa - large tree native to eastern Europe and Asia Minor having leaves with white tomentum on the under side; widely cultivated as an ornamental tree - a tall perennial woody plant having a main trunk and branches forming a distinct elevated crown; includes both gymnosperms and angiosperms

Translations

hársfa

tilia

linden

[ˈlɪnd^ən] n (= lime) → tilleul m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

linden

n (also linden tree) → Linde f, → Lindenbaum m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

References in classic literature ?

But the finest thing within the ruin's limits was a noble linden, which the children said was four hundred years old, and no doubt it was.

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Through this window shone a mild light which silvered the foliage of two or three linden trees which formed a group outside the park.

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I fancied myself at Berlin, Unter den Linden, and I reflected that, having taken the serious step of visiting the head-quarters of the Gallic genius, I should try and project myself; as much as possible, into the circumstances which are in part the consequence and in part the cause of its irrepressible activity.

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He and his betrothed had walked about the garden and were sitting on a bench in a shady linden alley.

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A squirrel climbed cautiously down from a linden tree.

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A deep and careless incision had been made into each tree, near its root, into which little spouts, formed of the I bark of the alder, or of the sumach, were fastened; and a trough, roughly dug out of the linden, or basswood, was I lying at the root of each tree, to catch the sap that flowed from this extremely wasteful and inartificial arrangement.

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Why, they tie themselves together and leap into the Linden Pool, where the water is five spears'-lengths deep.

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Down the broad main thoroughfare, which may once have been the historic Unter den Linden, came a brilliant cortege.

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Imagine on the balustrade of this terrace a number of tall vases of blue and white pottery, in which are gilliflowers; and to right and left, along the neighboring walls, hedges of linden closely trimmed in, and you will gain an idea of the landscape, full of tranquil chastity, modest cheerfulness, but commonplace withal, which surrounded the venerable edifice of the Cormon family.

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The lance of the black knight smote full upon the linden shield of his foeman, the staggering weight of the mighty black charger hurtled upon the gray who went down with his rider into the dust of the highway.

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It led through a grove of lindens to a conservatory.

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While other towns boast of the magnificence of their arsenals and dock-yards, and the splendour of their shops and markets, Haarlem's claims to fame rest upon her superiority to all other provincial cities in the number and beauty of her spreading elms, graceful poplars, and, more than all, upon her pleasant walks, shaded by the lovely arches of magnificent oaks, lindens, and chestnuts.