osage orange
- noun
- /ˈoʊseɪdʒ ˈɔrɪndʒ/
- US
:
naranja de Osage
- The osage orange tree is known for its spiny branches and large greenish-yellow fruit.
- osage orange tree
Examples
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The hard wood of the osage orange is traditionally used to make strong bows.
-
In addition to the fruit trees, Redmond added what might be called ornamentals, including willows and various hedge plants such as the osage orange.
Academic text (2015) -
Sullard stood a few yards away, behind an Osage orange tree, his rifle nestled between a fork in the limbs, pointed toward the river.
Fiction book (1994) -
Vines climbed the mansion, boys threw osage orange fruit at the window glass, and starlings nested in what had been chandeliers hanging above tables set with fine china and polished silver.
Fiction book (1994) -
Farmers often plant osage orange trees to create natural fences around their fields.
Synonyms
A small tree with hard orange wood used to make bows
A small thorny tree with glossy leaves, inedible fruit like an orange and hard wood used for bows
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is formed from a proper name ('Osage') plus 'orange', so a B1 learner who knows both words might guess it is something orange-related or named after the Osage people (e.g., a type of orange or orange-coloured plant). However, the true referent is a specific tree species with inedible fruit and other botanical properties that are not predictable from the constituents, so the meaning is only partially inferable rather than fully transparent.
Etymology
Osage orange may come from the Osage people who lived where the tree grows and from the tree's round, bumpy fruit that looks like a rough orange. Native people used the tree's hard, orange-colored wood to make strong bows, so the name connects the people and the orange-like fruit to the tree we call osage orange today.
