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Sloe

 - 6 dictionary results
Genuine Irish Shillelagh
Long Cane or Short Club Blackthorn Wood, Limited Editions
www.ElderLuxe.com/Canes

sloe

  [sloh]
Use Sloe in a Sentence
–noun
1. the small, sour, blackish fruit of the blackthorn, Prunus spinosa, of the rose family.
2. the shrub itself.
3. any of various other plants of the genus Prunus, as a shrub or small tree, P. alleghaniensis, bearing dark-purple fruit.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME slo, OE slā(h); c. G Schlehe, D slee
Genuine Irish Shillelagh
Long Cane or Short Club Blackthorn Wood, Limited Editions
www.ElderLuxe.com/Canes

black⋅thorn

  [blak-thawrn]
–noun
1. a shrub or tree of the genus Crataegus, as C. calpodendron.
2. a walking stick made of a blackthorn tree or shrub.
3. Also called sloe. a much-branched, thorny, Old World shrub, Prunus spinosa, having white flowers and small plumlike fruits.
4. pear haw.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME blak thorn. See black, thorn
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To Sloe
black·thorn   (blāk'thôrn')   
n.  A thorny deciduous Eurasian shrub (Prunus spinosa) having white flowers and small, bluish-black, plumlike fruits used chiefly for flavoring alcoholic beverages such as sloe gin. Also called sloe.
sloe   (slō)   
n.  

  1. See blackthorn.

  2. Either of two eastern North American plum trees or shrubs, Prunus alleghaniensis, having dark purple fruit, or P. americana, having yellow or red fruit.

  3. The tart plumlike fruit of either of these plants.


[Middle English slo, from Old English slā; see sleiə- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

sloe 
"fruit of the blackthorn," O.E. slah (pl. slan), from P.Gmc. *slaikhwon (cf. M.Du., Du. slee, O.H.G. sleha, Ger. Schlehe), from PIE *sleie- "blue, bluish, blue-black" (see livid). Sloe-eyed is attested from 1867; sloe gin first recorded 1895.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Encyclopedia

sloe

(Prunus spinosa), spiny shrub, of the rose family (Rosaceae), native to Europe but cultivated in other regions. The name is also applied to Crataegus calpodendron (or C. tomentosa), commonly called pear haw, another shrub or small tree of the rose family. P. spinosa usually grows less than 3.6 metres (12 feet) tall and has numerous, small leaves. Its dense growth makes it suitable for hedges. The white flowers, about 2 centimetres (0.8 inch) in diameter, appear before the leaves. The bluish-black, tart-flavoured fruit is about 2 cm in diameter and is used to flavour sloe gin.

Learn more about sloe with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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