to tree
- verb
- /triː/
- US
- A simple rule that he would always follow, which is that you, you, you send the hero up a tree, you throw rocks at him and then you try to get him down.
- tree a coon
- treed by hounds
Examples
-
If his fraternity brothers find out, they'll tree him and torture him.
-
I am sure, sure... ...that you will help us tree these swine.
-
Now he's treeing possums In the Promised Land
-
He heard the deep voices of the hounds "treeing" far away.
Fiction book (1996) -
Treeing a squirrel!
Blog text (10) -
That dog Elmer was so smart that if Buford showed him a piece of oak board or a joint of pine siding, he'd take off and tree a coon, which when the hide was skinned off and stretched would exactly fill out that length of wood.
Fiction book (1990) -
The hunters trained their dogs to tree the raccoon by chasing it up into the branches.
-
After a long chase, the dogs finally managed to tree the squirrel, making it impossible for the animal to escape.
-
He watched as his hunting dogs tree the fox, barking excitedly at the base of the tree where it had climbed.
Synonyms
To force a person or animal into a place they cannot leave
Idioms
Children often look and behave like their parents
To make ripe fruit or other things fall from a tree by moving its branches quickly
Compounds
A large strong tree with leaves that have deep rounded edges and small nuts called acorns
- Offensive
A person who wants to protect trees and nature, sometimes used as an insult
A large tree with broad leaves and strong wood often planted in parks and streets for shade
A large tree that makes nuts you can eat in prickly cases and has leaves that turn brown in autumn
A South American tree that gives a sticky white liquid used to make natural rubber
A large leafy tree with heart-shaped leaves and sweet-smelling yellow flowers often planted for shade
- US
A large branching desert plant with spiky leaves and white flower clusters that grows in the southwestern United States
A large tree with pale, peeling bark, broad leaves, and round seed balls that gives shade
- Literature
The tree in the Garden of Eden whose fruit made Adam and Eve able to tell right from wrong
- Jargon
A rule that stops courts from using evidence found illegally
- Australian
An animal like a kangaroo that lives in trees in New Guinea and northern Australia
A slow-moving animal that lives in trees in Central and South America and hangs upside down to eat leaves
- US
A tall North American tree that has large yellow and green tulip-shaped flowers and soft pale wood for furniture
A tropical tree that makes large starchy fruit that become like bread when cooked
A wild North American cherry tree with small dark berries that taste bitter and attract birds
Surface Forms
Etymology
The verb tree meaning 'to force up a tree' comes from hunting, when dogs would chase an animal until it climbed a real tree and could not get down. So to be treed now means to be driven into a place where you cannot escape.