poplarn.
/ˈpɒplə/, U.S. /ˈpɑplər/ 1.
a. Any of various deciduous, tall and fast-growing, sometimes narrowly erect, trees constituting the genus Populus (family Salicaceae), occurring throughout north temperate regions, which have characteristically ovate or heart-shaped leaves with toothed margins and often flattened petioles, and which flower on drooping catkins before the leaves emerge (see also poplar tree n. at Compounds 1a).
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the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > tree or shrub groups > poplars and allies > [noun]
popple1229
popple-tree1229
abele?a1300
poplar1371
black poplar1542
white poplar1542
poppling1570
cotton tree1633
tacamahac1739
Lombardy poplar1766
poplar pine1770
Po poplar1776
grey poplar1782
cottonwood1787
pine poplar1789
liard1809
white-backa1825
necklace poplar1845
silver poplar1847
weather-tree1847
hackmatack1873
bitter-weed1878
balsam-poplar1884
Russian poplar1884
Lombardy1917
1371 Close Roll, 45 Edward III (P.R.O.: C 54/209) m. 4v Terciam partem gardini videlicet de fossa vocata le popeler Dyche versus le Est.
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Hosea iv. 13 Thei brenneden tymyame..vnder ook and poplere [v.r. populer; L. populum].
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 408 Poplere, or popultre, populus.
?a1500 in G. Henslow Med. Wks. 14th Cent. (1899) 52 (MED) For to make..popilion. Gedre leuys of pypelere, [etc.].
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xliv There be trees woll be set without rotes..likewyse pepeler & wethy.
1562 W. Turner 2nd Pt. Herball f. 98 Poplers grow by water sides and in moyst places.
?1614 W. Drummond Song: It was the time in Poems The Poplare spreads her Branches to the Skie, And hides from sight that azure Cannopie.
1677 Topsfield Rec. 20 That popeler is his bound corner tree.
1744 tr. G. A. Bazin Nat. Hist. Bees x. 202 It is thought to be from poplars, birch, and willows, that they [sc. bees] collect it.
1785 W. Cowper Poplar Field 1 in Gentleman's Mag. 55 53 The poplars are fell'd, and adieu to the shade and the whispering sound of the cool colonnade.
1830 Ld. Tennyson Mariana iv, in Poems 16 Hard by a poplar shook alway, All silvergreen with gnarled bark.
1878 Daily Constit. (Atlanta, Georgia) 13 Mar. It is not time to plant corn until the leaves of the poplar are as large as squirrels' ears.
1900 J. K. Jerome Three Men on Bummel vii. 154 The German is rooting out all other trees, and replacing them with poplars.
1934 Amer. Jrnl. Bot. 21 488 The character of winter injury to poplar and privet was quite similar to that..for elm and pussy-willow in that the extremities of both terminal and lateral branches were killed.
1992 E. A. Proulx Postcards v. liv. 298 The row of poplars, wind harps behind the farmhouses.
b. With distinguishing word: a particular kind of tree of this genus. balsam, black, grey, Lombardy, trembling poplar, white poplar, etc.: see the first element.
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1562 W. Bullein Bk. Simples f. 58v, in Bulwarke of Defence Pine trees, and white Populars.
1670 J. Evelyn Sylva (ed. 2) xviii. §1. 80 The Black Poplar is frequently pollar'd when as big as ones arm, eight or nine foot from the ground.
1766 Museum Rusticum 6 176 The Italian, or Lombardy poplar, is of very quick growth, easily multiplied.
1778 W. Boutcher Treat. Forest-Trees (ed. 2) xvi. 100 The trembling Poplar..is, amongst all the trees yet known, the fittest for planting by the sides of rivers, to prevent their incroachments.
1819 D. Thomas Trav. through Western Country 93 The true balsam poplar differ greatly in the leaf [from Populus angulata]; but the buds of both..[are] resinous.
1830 J. Baxter Libr. Agric. & Hort. Knowl. 403 The Trembling Poplar does not succeed so well on stiff clayey soils, but will thrive in almost any other.
1882 F. B. Hough Elem. Forestry xi.118 The Lombardy poplar forms an admirable windbreak; but in ornamental planting it shows to best advantage when it rises from behind, or among trees with rounded tops.
1935 Syracuse Herald (N.Y.) 11 Aug. 8/5 She pulled a young branch from a grown balsam poplar nearby and planted it not far from the wall.
1974 W. Condry Woodlands xiii. 151 In Britain we have three native poplars: aspen, grey poplar and black poplar. And several introductions which are far better known because often near or in towns: Lombardy poplar, white poplar, balsam poplar and black Italian poplar.
2000 Evening Post (Nottingham) (Nexis) 25 Oct. 24 Black poplars are the tallest trees in Britain but they are also one of the rarest. Their decline has been put down to too many male trees and not enough female ones.
2. The wood of the poplar, characteristically soft, pale in colour, and loose-textured.
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society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > wood > wood of specific trees > [noun] > wood of other specific trees
thornc1330
poplara1450
asp1551
angelin1670
dogwood1670
serpent-wood1681
locust wood1742
canarium1776
stave-wood1778
lacewood1803
Canary wood1820
chestnut1823
brier-wood1868
jasmine-wood1870
angelique1873
sakura1911
a1450 ( tr. Vegetius De Re Militari (Douce) f. 63v (MED) Þe oost most haue..tables of popiler, wythy, & oþer liȝt wode.
1662 J. Evelyn Silva (1786) I. 204 Boards made of poplar are durable if kept dry.
1734 Builder's Dict. I Whitewood and the Poplar, Birch, Aspen &c. are the worst of all Woods to burn.
1799 W. Nicol Pract. Planter 64 I have even heard of small ships being built of poplar!
1843 ‘R. Carlton’ New Purchase I. xx. 189 All the time Tom talking and laughing away, like a fellow whittling poplar with a dirk-knife.
1882 Manitoba Daily Free Press 18 Feb. 8/1 It may not be generally known that of all wood, poplar makes the best paper.
1929 Times 5 Mar. 12/5 I have seen floor boards of poplar; it has the reputation of being a bad wood to burn.
1944 S. Ross One's a Heifer in R. Brown & D. Bennett Anthol. Canad. Lit. in Eng. (1982) I. 462 He raked the coals with the lifter and put in poplar, two split pieces for a base and a thick round log on top.
2004 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 3 Sept. e23 A tall, freestanding case made of poplar, it was painted with a slightly different ‘dry brush’ technique, with most of the paint wrung from the brush.
3. Any of several trees of other families: (a) North American (more fully tulip poplar or yellow poplar), the tulip tree, Liriodendron tulipifera (family Magnoliaceae), an ornamental and timber tree which has wood resembling that of the poplars; the wood of this tree; (b) Australian (more fully native poplar), either of two small trees with leaves resembling those of many poplars, the bleeding heart tree, Omalanthus nutans (family Euphorbiaceae), of western Australia (also Queensland poplar), and the horseradish tree, Codonocarpus cotinifolius (family Gyrostemonaceae), of central Australia.
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the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > tree or shrub groups > poplars and allies > [noun] > Australian poplar
mustard tree1619
poplar1700
horseradish tree1859
native poplar1889
Queensland poplar1890
radish tree1898
the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > non-British trees or shrubs > North American trees or shrubs > [noun] > tulip-tree or flowers
poplar1700
tulip-tree1705
tulip1759
yellow poplar1759
canoewood1762
liriodendron1802
white poplar1814
saddle leaf1820
saddle-tree1843
tulip poplar1869
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular timber trees or shrubs > non-British timber trees > [noun] > Australasian
tallow-tree1704
rata1773
rosewood1779
red mahogany1798
ironbark1799
wild orange1802
red gum1803
rewarewa1817
red cedar1818
black-butted gum1820
Huon pine1820
miro1820
oak1821
horoeka1831
hinau1832
maire1832
totara1832
blackbutt1833
marri1833
raspberry jam tree1833
kohekohe1835
puriri1835
tawa1839
hickory1840
whau1840
pukatea1841
titoki1842
butterbush1843
iron gum1844
York gum1846
mangeao1848
myall1848
ironheart1859
lilly-pilly1860
belah1862
flindosa1862
jarrah1866
silky oak1866
teak of New South Wales1866
Tolosa-wood1866
turmeric-tree1866
walking-stick palm1869
tooart1870
queenwood1873
tarairi1873
boree1878
yate1880
axe-breaker1884
bangalay1884
coachwood1884
cudgerie1884
feather-wood1884
forest mahogany1884
maiden's blush1884
swamp mahogany1884
tallow-wood1884
teak of New Zealand1884
wandoo1884
heartwood1885
ivorywood1887
Jimmy Low1887
Burdekin plum1889
corkwood1889
pigeon-berry ash1889
red beech1889
silver beech1889
turnip-wood1891
black bean1895
red bean1895
pinkwood1898
poplar1898
rose mahogany1898
quandong1908
lancewood1910
New Zealand honeysuckle1910
Queensland walnut1919
mahogany gum1944
Australian mahogany1948
1700 Philos. Trans. 1699 (Royal Soc.) 21 437 Here [in Maryland] is a sort of Poplar that makes good White Plank, it is a large Tree, and bears a Flower like a Tulip.
1766 Compl. Farmer Tulip-tree,..a native of North America,..is generally known through all the English settlements by the title of poplar.
1774 J. R. Peyton Let. 21 July in J. L. Peyton Adventures of My Grandfather (1867) 127 The forest of Kentucky consists of yellow and white poplar, walnut, red bud.
1843 J. Torrey Flora State N.Y. I. 28 Tulip Tree. Tulip Poplar... The bark is a stimulating tonic and diaphoretic.
1868 A. Gray Field, Forest, & Garden Bot. 42 L[iriodendron] tulipifera. A tall, very handsome tree, in rich soil, commonest W[est], where it, or the light and soft lumber (much used in cabinet-work), is called White-wood, and even Poplar.
1889 E. Giles Austral. Twice Traversed II. 195 There was nothing but the native poplar for the camels to eat, and they devoured the leaves with great apparent relish, though to my human taste it is about the most disgusting of vegetables.
1898 E. E. Morris Austral Eng. 365 Poplar, in Queensland, a timber-tree, Carumbium populifolium.
1955 Sci. News Let. 7 May 302/2 The tulip tree is also variously known as tulip poplar, yellow poplar, whitewood and fiddle-tree.
1979 J. Wrigley & M. Fagg Austral. Native Plants 194 Codonocarpus cotinifolius..Native poplar. Tall, pyramidal tree. Leaves are poplar-like, grey-green.
2005 Providence (Rhode Island) Jrnl. (Nexis) 29 Apr. b4 The tulip tree, also known as the yellow poplar, has square-shaped leaves and tulip-like flowers. Indigenous to these parts, the tulip tree is lovely in all seasons.
Compounds
C1.
a. General attributive.† poplar ditch n. Obsolete rare
poplar block n.
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1870 W. Morris Earthly Paradise: Pt. III 278 From off the poplar-block white chips would fly.
2001 Wood & Wood Products (Nexis) 1 June 147 We make a small line of solid tables. I sent you some poplar blocks to look at that could possibly be specially promoted in our advertising.
poplar board n.
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a1399 in W. G. Benham Oath Bk. Colchester (1907) 9 (MED) Popler bord and al otter nesschebord that comth to towne, for j c fet ob.
1490 in J. P. Collier Househ. Bks. John Duke of Norfolk & Thomas Earl of Surrey (1844) 517 Payd to Umfray, carpenter, for c.c. of popler bord.
1721 Particular & Inventory Thomas Reynolds 17/2 (table) In Poplar Boards at Strangeways 3 [shillings].
1884 Manufacturer & Builder June 142/1 The safety catch is attached to the bottom of the platform, and consists of a half-inch poplar board resting on springs.
2004 Washington Post (Nexis) 5 May c15 The oil portrait was painted on a half-inch-thick piece of poplar board.
poplar branch n.
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1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene ii. ix. sig. V8v What wight she was, that Poplar braunch did hold.
1725 J. Glanvill Poems 119 So the fond Insect, void of Care, On Poplar Branches straid.
1893 Atlantic Monthly Feb. 170/2 The wind that rustled among the poplar branches outside my window.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. vi. [Hades] 109 A bird sat tamely perched on a poplar branch.
2004 Detroit Free Press (Nexis) 28 Oct. The speed of his fall was broken somewhat by the three-inch-thick poplar branch that broke off when he caught it between his thighs.
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1371Popeler dyche [see sense 1a].
poplar grove n.
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1591 R. Percyvall Bibliotheca Hispanica Dict. at Alameda A popler groue, Populetum.
1706 J. Stevens tr. M. de Cervantes Don Quixote (ed. 2) II. xxviii. 163 They pac'd on leisurely, coming at length to a Poplar Grove.
1818 Times 13 Mar. 3/2 Hedges of living quick, a yew alcove, Tall elms, bright apples, and a poplar grove.
1983 P. St. Pierre Last Day of Violence in Smith & Other Events 114 Coarse grass, patched with Red Osier brush, islanded with poplar groves and, at the edge where the jack-pine forest stood, stippled with dead pines.
poplar leaf n.
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c1450 Med. Recipes (BL Add. 33996) in F. Heinrich Mittelengl. Medizinbuch (1896) 136 (MED) Make aplastur of þe feþerfoye & popeler leeuys & of may buter.
1561 J. Hollybush tr. H. Brunschwig Most Excellent Homish Apothecarye f. 13v Make hym a playster of Popular leaues.
1653 N. Culpeper Pharmacopœia Londinensis 39/2 Knotgass, Golden Maiden-hair, Poplar leaves and Buds, Leeks, Purslain, Silverweed, or wild Tansy, [etc.].
1725 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey II. vii. 135 Their busy fingers move Like poplar-leaves when Zephyr fans the grove.
1838 Times 6 Aug. 4/4 Oak and poplar leaves, entwining tricoloured flags, shaded numerous trophies of arms.
1988 Yankee July 118/2 Pollywogs black and round like rotted poplar leaves.
poplar log n.
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1850 G. Warburton Conquest of Canada (ed. 2) 148 Their [sc. beavers'] winter food, consisting of poplar logs, pieces of willows, alder, and fragments of other trees, is collected in autumn.
1976 B. Broadfoot Pioneer Years 175 Poplar logs, a chimney made of mud and prairie rocks.
2004 Edmonton (Alberta) Jrnl. (Nexis) 24 May b4 He proved the biolubricant works by using it on a heavy-duty chainsaw to cut poplar logs into boards.
poplar shade n.
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1594 Warres Cyrus ii. p. xviii Here may we vnder this poplar shade, Discourse vpon the sweetnesse of our loue.
1685 J. Dryden tr. Lucretius ii, in Sylvæ 58 Yet on the grass beneath a poplar shade By the cool stream, our careless limbs are lay'd.
1728 J. Thomson Spring 36 Her pinions..low-drooping scarce Can bear the mourner to the poplar shade.
1883 Overland Monthly June 657/1 In balm-tree grove and poplar shade Im-na-ha lived, the Indian maid.
1928 W. B. Yeats Poems (1997) 224 Love had come unsought Upon the Norman upland or in that poplar shade.
poplar timber n.
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1497 in M. Oppenheim Naval Accts. & Inventories Henry VII (1896) 235 Certeyn poppeler-tymbre for making of cc pavysses.
1861 D. D. Owen 4th Rep. Geol. Surv. Kentucky 519 These beds [of rock] are..especially marked on the line by a growth of large poplar timber.
2002 Evening Standard (Palmerston North) (Nexis) 21 May 14 He said poplar timber, as well as being a poor burner, had durability.
poplar tree n.
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c1450 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 604/8 Populus, a populertre.
1576 A. Fleming tr. Hippocrates in Panoplie Epist. 276 Poplar trees, of notable talnesse.
1665 R. Hooke Micrographia 127 As also that Mushroms may be made to grow at the foot of a wilde Poplar Tree.
1740 G. Nelson Wonders Nature 224 There is a sort of Canes as big as Poplar Trees, so thick and long between the Knots that the Indians cleave them, and make Boats of them.
1809 A. Henry Trav. & Adventures Canada 128 Young wood of the birch, aspen, and poplar-tree.
1994 D. W. Rowe Bye, George—I think you got It in H. C. Sisson & D. W. Rowe Coots, Codgers & Curmudgeons (1994) 150 In the scorching July sun, chopping down thirty-foot poplar trees and grubbing out willows made a man thirsty.
poplar twig n.
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1603 T. Powell Vertues Due sig. B4 To store eche Nymph with shafts, the goddesse bids, To fill her quiuers all with Poplar twigs.
1756 T. Hale et al. Compl. Body Husbandry xxxii. 168/2 Where Birch is scarce they sometimes make Brooms of white Poplar Twigs.
1899 J. W. Mackail Life W. Morris I. 335 Ordering three hundredweight of poplar-twigs for experiments in yellow dyeing.
1974 W. Condry Woodlands xiii. 148 The lunar hornet moth has a caterpillar which lives hidden inside willow or poplar twigs feeding on the pith.
2000 Sentinel (Stoke-on-Trent) (Nexis) 17 Aug. 23 By boiling poplar twigs he discovered a rich yellow dye, a technique he developed during his time in Leek.
b.
poplar-bordered adj.
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1857 Albion 3 Oct. 477/1 The straight poplar-bordered roads that traverse Rosa Bonheur's country.
1972 K. V. Flannery in M. P. Leone Contemp. Archaeol. xxii. 256 Springs..which in turn feed permanent poplar-bordered streams.
poplar-covered adj.
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1840 L. S. Costello Summer amongst Bocages & Vines II. iii. 60 A staircase..conducts us to a long walk in the river, planted with low shrubs, to the poplar-covered island.
2002 Calgary (Alberta) Herald (Nexis) 31 May b2 From the top of the park's two aspen, white spruce and balsam poplar-covered escarpments, the Rocky Mountains can be seen on a clear day.
poplar-crowned adj.
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1798 W. S. Landor Gebir vi. 157 Poplar-crown'd Sperchios.
1903 Jrnl. Hellenic Stud. 23 127 The Meleager of the Vatican, the poplar-crowned Heracles, and the female heads of Athens and Berlin have been regarded as copies of originals by Scopas.
1996 M. M. Sage Warfare in Anc. Greece v. 219 The poplar-crowned soldiers presumably are those who are receiving special bonuses.
poplar-flanked adj.
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1891 R. Kipling Light that Failed xiii. 240 Maisie put her elbows on the window-sill and looked at the moonlight on the straight, poplar-flanked road.
2003 Weekend Austral. (Nexis) 17 May b18 I've seen too many blindingly beautiful mountains, glaciers, lakes, poplar-flanked country roads and springy green fields dotted with snowy sheep.
poplar-lined adj.
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1867 Times 24 Oct. 10/4 Days of travel along the poplar-lined chaussée and monotonous railroads.
1978 S. Wilson Dealer's Move v. 100 Endless poplar-lined avenues stretched ahead.
1996 Holiday Which? Jan. 37/2 A well-chosen map..may highlight a scenic poplar-lined road or riverbank route as an alternative to a cash-guzzling autoroute.
C2. † poplar dagger n. U.S. Obsolete rare the cottonwood dagger moth, Acronicta lepusculina.Apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.† poplar girdler n. U.S. Obsolete rare a longhorn beetle, Saperda concolor, the larva of which forms galls on the trunks of poplar and willow saplings.Apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.† poplar-spinner n. Obsolete rare = poplar tentmaker n.† poplar worm n. Obsolete a moth caterpillar that feeds on poplar leaves.
poplar aphid n. any of several aphids which infest poplars; spec. those of the genus Pemphigus (family Pemphigidae), esp. P. bursarius, which forms galls on the leaf stalks.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > subclass Pterygota > [noun] > division Exopterygota or Hemimetabola > order Hemiptera > suborder Homoptera > family Pemphigidae > member of
poplar aphid1816
1816 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. (new ed.) I. ii. 29 The poplar and apple Aphis are distinct species.
1936 R. W. Doane et al. Forest Insects x. 365 The speckled poplar aphid. Chaitophoroides populifoliae (Fitch), is abundant from Utah to Idaho.
1986 Great Lakes Entomologist 19 21 (title) The spotted poplar aphid Aphis maculatae and its suppression by insecticidal soaps.
poplar beetle n. = poplar leaf beetle n.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Coleoptera or beetles and weevils > [noun] > Polyphaga (omnivorous) > superfamily Phytophaga or Chrysomeloidea > family Chrysomelidae > lina populi
poplar beetle1816
1816 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. II. xxi. 245 The grub of the poplar-beetle..is remarkable for similar organs.
1928 Ann. Entomol. Soc. Amer. 21 437 Chrysomelid eggs, such as those of the poplar beetle, Lina scripta.
1993 Canad. Entomologist 125 399 (title) Life history of the poplar beetle Chrysomela tremulae F. in the central region of France.
poplar birch n. the grey birch, Betula populifolia, a slender ornamental tree found in northeastern North America.
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1818 A. Eaton Man. Bot. (ed. 2) ii. 172 Betula..populifolia..white birch..poplar birch..30 to 40 feet high.
1874 Amer. Naturalist 8 193 When Penikese was first known it was covered with a growth of trees... Among these may be mentioned the red cedar, pitch pine..poplar birch, hornbeam [etc.].
1998 Jrnl. Biogeography 25 1040 (table) Poplar-birch and pine forests of western Siberia.
poplar borer n. U.S. a North American longhorn beetle, Saperda calcarata; (also) the larva of this beetle, which attacks the trunk and branches of poplars and certain other trees, causing blackened and swollen scars.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Coleoptera or beetles and weevils > [noun] > Polyphaga (omnivorous) > superfamily Phytophaga or Chrysomeloidea > family Cerambycidae > larva of saperda calcarata (poplar-borer)
poplar borer1871
1871 Amer. Naturalist 4 Index 773 Poplar borer.
1942 S. W. Frost Gen. Entomol. xix. 381 The poplar borer..and the carpenter worm..keep at least a portion of their burrows free from frass and other waste material.
2002 Sacramento (Calif.) Bee (Nexis) 13 June cl8 The poplar borer (Saperda calcarata) attacks aspen, cottonwood, poplar and willow.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > family Noctuidae > member of genus Acronycta > acronycta populi (poplar dagger)
poplar dagger1890
1890 Cent. Dict. Poplar-dagger, a bombycid moth, Acronycta populi, whose larva feeds on poplar-leaves.
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1890 Cent. Dict. Poplar-girdler, a longicorn beetle, Saperda concolor, whose larva girdles the trunks of poplar-saplings.
poplar grey n. a greyish Eurasian noctuid moth, Acronicta megacephala, whose larvae feed on poplar leaves.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > family Noctuidae > member of genus Acronycta > acronycta megacephala
poplar grey1832
1832 J. Rennie Conspectus Butterflies & Moths Brit. 78 Acronycta... The Poplar Grey.
1929 Times 24 Sept. 15/5 The larva of the poplar grey..is a common object in autumn on poplar trunks in the London area.
1984 B. Skinner Moths Btit. Isles 119/1 Poplar Grey... The pale, usually white hindwings of this species distinguish it from A. rumicis.
poplar hawk n. = poplar hawkmoth n.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > family Sphingidae > smerinthus populi (poplar hawk moth)
poplar hawk1766
1766 M. Harris Aurelian 4 This Disease is more fatal to the Caterpillars of the Emperor, Eyed Hawk, and Poplar Hawk, than the Privet.
1832 J. Rennie Conspectus Butterflies & Moths Brit. 23 The Poplar Hawk (Sm[erinthus] Populi, Latreille) appears the end of June.
1967 E. B. Ford Moths (ed. 2) ii. 25 An abnormality both of Privet Hawk and Poplar Hawk larvae,..in which the segment bearing the posterior horn is duplicated, is known to be unifactorial and recessive.
1998 Guardian 9 June i. 16/8 It had a wing span of some three and a half inches and was, in fact, one of the hawk moths—the Poplar Hawk.
poplar hawkmoth n. a common large grey European hawkmoth, Laothoe populi, whose larvae feed mainly on poplar leaves.
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1720 E. Albin Nat. Hist. Eng. Insects Descr. Pl. lvii This being commonly called the Poplar Hawk Moth.
1887 G. Nicholson Illustr. Dict. Gardening III. 471/2 The Poplar Hawk Moth..lives on Poplars and Willows, and on Laurel and Laurustinus.
1909 A. C. Seward Darwin & Mod. Sci. 29 Years ago I observed in caterpillars of Smerinthus populi (the poplar hawk -moth), which also possess white oblique stripes, that certain individuals showed red spots above these stripes.
2004 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 19 June (Features section) 22 Children love the Poplar Hawkmoths, which resemble dead leaves and cling to them with their sticky feet.
poplar kitten n. a European moth, Furcula bifida (family Notodontidae), which has pale grey forewings with dark bands and whose larvae feed mainly on poplar leaves.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > family Notodontidae > cerura bifida (poplar kitten)
poplar kitten1887
1887 G. Nicholson Illustr. Dict. Gardening III. 254/2 The Poplar Kitten..feeds on Aspen and other Poplars.
1961 R. South Moths Brit. Isles I. 73 (heading) The Poplar Kitten (Harpyia bifida Brahm).
2004 Daily Tel. 19 June 22 The Poplar Kitten and the Peach Blossom, the Pale Tussock and the Phoenix... All of them are moths.
poplar leaf beetle n. any of several beetles of the family Chrysomelidae, esp. Chrysomela populi (in Britain) and C. lapponica (in North America), whose larvae feed on poplar and other trees of the willow family, causing skeletonization of the leaves.
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1917 Manitoba Free Press 16 Feb. 7/5 Every poplar and willow was stripped by the poplar leaf beetle, but the insects did not bother the maple, ash nor elm.
1951 Dict. Gardening (Royal Hort. Soc.) III. 1643/1 The Poplar Leaf Beetle, Melasoma populi, is responsible for the skeletonizing of the leaves of poplars.
2001 Western Morning News (Plymouth) (Nexis) 15 Aug. 12 Saw poplar leaf beetles, bright red but unspotted, on sallow.
poplar lutestring n. a Eurasian noctuid moth, Tethea or (family Thyatiridae), which has brown markings on its grey forewings and whose larvae feed on the leaves of aspen and poplar trees.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > family Cymatophoridae, Polyplocidae, or Thyatiridae > member of
poplar lutestring1819
1819 G. Samouelle Entomologist's Compend. 402 The lesser Lutestring..The Poplar Lutestring.
1967 E. B. Ford Moths (ed. 2) xiii. 191 The black form..of the Poplar Lutestring, which has increased in so spectacular a fashion in industrial Germany.., seems in this country to have been found only in a restricted rural area in Yorkshire.
1984 B. Skinner Moths Brit. Isles 14/2 Poplar Lutestring... Larva. All the races feed on aspen, but those of the English race are found occasionally on poplar.
poplar pine n. rare the Lombardy poplar, Populus nigra ‘Italica’ (cf. pine poplar n. at pine n.2 Compounds 2a); the wood of this tree.
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the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > tree or shrub groups > poplars and allies > [noun]
popple1229
popple-tree1229
abele?a1300
poplar1371
black poplar1542
white poplar1542
poppling1570
cotton tree1633
tacamahac1739
Lombardy poplar1766
poplar pine1770
Po poplar1776
grey poplar1782
cottonwood1787
pine poplar1789
liard1809
white-backa1825
necklace poplar1845
silver poplar1847
weather-tree1847
hackmatack1873
bitter-weed1878
balsam-poplar1884
Russian poplar1884
Lombardy1917
1770 H. Walpole Let. 25 Dec. in Wks. (1798) V. 142 If poplar-pines ever grow, it must be in such a soaking season as this.
1965 Ironwood (Mich.) Daily Globe 25 June 7/4 [They] own 80 acres of timber of the poplar-pine and swamp conifer types.
1997 Chattanooga (Tennessee) Free Press (Nexis) 26 Oct. i4 Several new AVA members exhibited work in this show: Larry Parham (cherry and poplar pine corner cabinet).
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1841 T. W. Harris Rep. Insects Massachusetts 314 Our poplar spinner may be called Clostera Americana, the American Clostera.
1890 Cent. Dict. Poplar-spinner, a geometrid moth, Biston ursaria, whose larva defoliates poplars in the United States.
poplar tentmaker n. rare a North American moth, Clostera inclusa (family Notodontidae), the larvae of which strip poplar trees of their leaves.
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1906 E. P. Felt Insects affecting Park & Woodland Trees II. 560 Poplar tent maker..Melalopha inclusa Hubn. A black, yellow-striped larva..feeds in the folded, webbed-together leaves of poplar and willow.
1926 Trans. Amer. Entomol. Soc. 52 192 This parasite [sc. Achaetoneura melalophae] is one of the most important natural controls of the poplar tentmaker..which is periodically abundant on the Lombardy Poplar.
1998 Atlanta Jrnl. & Constit. (Nexis) 27 Aug. 1 I described the denuded willow, my ravaged river birches and the gauzy nest in a nearby sourwood. ‘Poplar tentmaker,’ Tyndall said confidently.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > family Noctuidae > member of genus Acronycta > caterpillar
poplar worm1806
1806 Balance 5 228/2 The scratch from a cat poisoned by the poplar worm was equally pernicious.
1851 L. H. Sigourney Crushed Mouse 32 I, who..gave all monstrous things, Cockroach, and dragon-fly, and poplar worm, Wide passport.
1888 Appletons' Cycl. Amer. Biogr. IV. 659/2 Dr. Parrish achieved reputation by his scientific attainments... Among his experiments were a series that led to a proof of the harmlessness of the ‘poplar worm,’ supposed at that time to be exceedingly venomous.
Derivatives
ˈpoplared adj. planted with poplars.
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the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > tree or shrub groups > poplars and allies > [adjective]
aspa1000
popple1229
aspenc1386
poplared1881
1881 Littell's Living Age 5 Mar. 578/2 And now although the inviting river flows, And every poplared cape, and every bend Or willowy islet, win upon thy soul.
1902 Daily Chron. 4 Sept. 7/4 The afternoon was lovely, by the poplared Loire.
2004 National Post (Canada) (Nexis) 21 Feb. 3 I sit on a log and look out at the lake, all sky and water in front and low, pined and poplared shoreline behind me.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1371