Definition: oak

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Source: WordNet (r) 1.7

oak
     adj : consisting of or made of wood of the oak tree; "a solid oak
           table"; "the old oaken bucket" [syn: oaken]
     n 1: the hard durable wood of any oak; used especially for
          furniture and flooring
     2: a deciduous tree of the genus Quercus; has acorns and lobed
        leaves; "great oaks grow from little acorns" [syn: oak
        tree]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Oak \Oak\ ([=o]k), n. [OE. oke, ok, ak, AS. [=a]c; akin to D.
   eik, G. eiche, OHG. eih, Icel. eik, Sw. ek, Dan. eeg.]
   1. (Bot.) Any tree or shrub of the genus Quercus. The oaks
      have alternate leaves, often variously lobed, and
      staminate flowers in catkins. The fruit is a smooth nut,
      called an acorn, which is more or less inclosed in a
      scaly involucre called the cup or cupule. There are now
      recognized about three hundred species, of which nearly
      fifty occur in the United States, the rest in Europe,
      Asia, and the other parts of North America, a very few
      barely reaching the northern parts of South America and
      Africa. Many of the oaks form forest trees of grand
      proportions and live many centuries. The wood is usually
      hard and tough, and provided with conspicuous medullary
      rays, forming the silver grain.

   2. The strong wood or timber of the oak.

   Note: Among the true oaks in America are:

   Barren oak, or

   Black-jack, Q. nigra.

   Basket oak, Q. Michauxii.

   Black oak, Q. tinctoria; -- called also yellow or
      quercitron oak.

   Bur oak (see under Bur.), Q. macrocarpa; -- called also
      over-cup or mossy-cup oak.

   Chestnut oak, Q. Prinus and Q. densiflora.

   Chinquapin oak (see under Chinquapin), Q. prinoides.

   Coast live oak, Q. agrifolia, of California; -- also
      called enceno.

   Live oak (see under Live), Q. virens, the best of all
      for shipbuilding; also, Q. Chrysolepis, of California.
      

   Pin oak. Same as Swamp oak.

   Post oak, Q. obtusifolia.

   Red oak, Q. rubra.

   Scarlet oak, Q. coccinea.

   Scrub oak, Q. ilicifolia, Q. undulata, etc.

   Shingle oak, Q. imbricaria.

   Spanish oak, Q. falcata.

   Swamp Spanish oak, or

   Pin oak, Q. palustris.

   Swamp white oak, Q. bicolor.

   Water oak, Q. aguatica.

   Water white oak, Q. lyrata.

   Willow oak, Q. Phellos. Among the true oaks in Europe
      are:

   Bitter oak, or

   Turkey oak, Q. Cerris (see Cerris).

   Cork oak, Q. Suber.

   English white oak, Q. Robur.

   Evergreen oak,

   Holly oak, or

   Holm oak, Q. Ilex.

   Kermes oak, Q. coccifera.

   Nutgall oak, Q. infectoria.

   Note: Among plants called oak, but not of the genus
         Quercus, are:

   African oak, a valuable timber tree (Oldfieldia
      Africana).

   Australian, or She, oak, any tree of the genus
      Casuarina (see Casuarina).

   Indian oak, the teak tree (see Teak).

   Jerusalem oak. See under Jerusalem.

   New Zealand oak, a sapindaceous tree (Alectryon
      excelsum).

   Poison oak, the poison ivy. See under Poison.

   Silky, or Silk-bark, oak, an Australian tree (Grevillea
      robusta).

   Green oak, oak wood colored green by the growth of the
      mycelium of certain fungi.

   Oak apple, a large, smooth, round gall produced on the
      leaves of the American red oak by a gallfly (Cynips
      confluens). It is green and pulpy when young.

   Oak beauty (Zo["o]l.), a British geometrid moth (Biston
      prodromaria) whose larva feeds on the oak.

   Oak gall, a gall found on the oak. See 2d Gall.

   Oak leather (Bot.), the mycelium of a fungus which forms
      leatherlike patches in the fissures of oak wood.

   Oak pruner. (Zo["o]l.) See Pruner, the insect.

   Oak spangle, a kind of gall produced on the oak by the
      insect Diplolepis lenticularis.

   Oak wart, a wartlike gall on the twigs of an oak.

   The Oaks, one of the three great annual English horse races
      (the Derby and St. Leger being the others). It was
      instituted in 1779 by the Earl of Derby, and so called
      from his estate.

   To sport one's oak, to be ``not at home to visitors,''
      signified by closing the outer (oaken) door of one's
      rooms. [Cant, Eng. Univ.]

Source: V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms December 2001

OAK
        Object Application Kernel (Java, predecessor, Sun)

Source: U.S. Gazetteer (1990)

Oak, NE (village, FIPS 35245)
  Location: 40.23726 N, 97.90404 W
  Population (1990): 68 (41 housing units)
  Area: 0.4 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
  Zip code(s): 68964

Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

Oak
   There are six Hebrew words rendered "oak."
   
     (1.) 'El occurs only in the word El-paran (Gen. 14:6). The
   LXX. renders by "terebinth." In the plural form this word occurs
   in Isa. 1:29; 57:5 (A.V. marg. and R.V., "among the oaks"); 61:3
   ("trees"). The word properly means strongly, mighty, and hence a
   strong tree.
   
     (2.) 'Elah, Gen. 35:4, "under the oak which was by Shechem"
   (R.V. marg., "terebinth"). Isa. 6:13, A.V., "teil-tree;" R.V.,
   "terebinth." Isa. 1:30, R.V. marg., "terebinth." Absalom in his
   flight was caught in the branches of a "great oak" (2 Sam. 18:9;
   R.V. marg., "terebinth").
   
     (3.) 'Elon, Judg. 4:11; 9:6 (R.V., "oak;" A.V., following the
   Targum, "plain") properly the deciduous species of oak shedding
   its foliage in autumn.
   
     (4.) 'Elan, only in Dan. 4:11,14,20, rendered "tree" in
   Nebuchadnezzar's dream. Probably some species of the oak is
   intended.
   
     (5.) 'Allah, Josh. 24:26. The place here referred to is called
   Allon-moreh ("the oak of Moreh," as in R.V.) in Gen. 12:6 and
   35:4.
   
     (6.) 'Allon, always rendered "oak." Probably the evergreen oak
   (called also ilex and holm oak) is intended. The oak woods of
   Bashan are frequently alluded to (Isa. 2:13; Ezek. 27:6). Three
   species of oaks are found in Palestine, of which the "prickly
   evergreen oak" (Quercus coccifera) is the most abundant. "It
   covers the rocky hills of Palestine with a dense brushwood of
   trees from 8 to 12 feet high, branching from the base, thickly
   covered with small evergreen rigid leaves, and bearing acorns
   copiously." The so-called Abraham's oak at Hebron is of this
   species. Tristram says that this oak near Hebron "has for
   several centuries taken the place of the once renowned terebinth
   which marked the site of Mamre on the other side of the city.
   The terebinth existed at Mamre in the time of Vespasian, and
   under it the captive Jews were sold as slaves. It disappeared
   about A.D. 330, and no tree now marks the grove of Mamre. The
   present oak is the noblest tree in Southern Palestine, being 23
   feet in girth, and the diameter of the foliage, which is
   unsymmetrical, being about 90 feet." (See HEBRON;
   TEIL-TREE.)