oleaster

o·le·as·ter

[oh-lee-as-ter]
noun
an ornamental shrub or small tree, Elaeagnus angustifolia, of Eurasia, having fragrant yellow flowers and an olivelike fruit.
Also called Russian olive.


Origin:
before 1000; Middle English < Latin: wild olive tree, derivative of olea olive

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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World English Dictionary
oleaster (ˌəʊlɪˈæstə) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
1.  any of several shrubs of the genus Elaeagnus, esp E. angustifolia, of S Europe, Asia, and North America, having silver-white twigs, yellow flowers, and an olive-like fruit: family Elaeagnaceae
2.  Also called: wild olive a wild specimen of the cultivated olive
 
[Latin: from olea; see olive, oil]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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00:10
Oleaster is always a great word to know.
So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a fool or simpleton; ninny.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia

oleaster

small deciduous tree of Eurasia, about 4.5 to 6 m (15 to 20 feet) high. It has smooth, dark brown branches that often bear spines and narrow, light green leaves that are silvery on the undersides from a covering of minute scales. The flowers are small, greenish, fragrant, and silvery-scaled on the outside, as are the edible, olive-shaped, yellowish fruits, which are sweet but mealy. The oleaster is hardy, wind resistant, tolerant of poor, dry sites, and thus useful in windbreak hedges, but it is also widely used in ornamental hedges.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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