olive Hear it!

olive Definition

ol·ive (äl′iv)

noun

    1. an evergreen tree (Olea europaea) of the olive family, native to S Europe and the Near East, with leathery leaves, yellow flowers, and an edible fruit
    2. the small, oval fruit of this tree, eaten green or ripe as a relish, or pressed to extract olive oil
  2. the wood of this tree
  3. any of various plants resembling the olive
  4. an olive branch or wreath
  5. the dull, yellowish-green color of the unripe olive fruit

Etymology: OFr < L oliva < Gr elaia

adjective

  1. of the olive
    1. olive-colored
    2. having a dark complexion tinged with this color
  3. designating a family (Oleaceae, order Scrophulariales) of dicotyledonous trees and shrubs with loose clusters of four-parted flowers, including the ashes, lilacs, jasmines, and forsythias

Olive Definition

Ol·ive (äl′iv)

noun

a feminine name: var. Olivia

Etymology: ME oliva < L, an olive

olive Synonyms

olive

modif.

greenish yellow, blackish green, yellowish green, olive-drab, khaki; see also drab 2, green, n.

olive Synonyms

olive

n.

stuffed olive, pitted olive, ripe olive, black olive, green olive; see also fruit 1.

olive Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • pit: Cooks Tip If you find peppers cause problems omit them and add 1 extra courgette and 100g pitted black olives.
  • slice: Tomato and Olive Pasta Made with fresh tomatoes and sliced black olives.
  • pick: Whether they came to break the siege, protect children going to school, or pick olives, they have come.
  • stuff: Having supplied garlic for stuffed olives for many years, Beacon Foods is happy that the fashionable Mediterranean fruit is now taking center stage.
  • eat: I've never eaten a whole olive all by itself: I had part of a black one once, but it was horrible.
  • add: Remove bay leaf, and add olives and raisins.

Adjective modifier

  • black: Also, black olives can be replaced with finely chopped button mushrooms.
  • green: Use black or green olives or a combination of the two.
  • wild: All of our long climb through the small sierras we savored it the peculiar taste of wild olives.
  • dark: It formed dark olive, circular, velvety colonies on PDA.
  • fresh: Fresh black olives, some red onion finely sliced, some cooked and sliced new potato and some tomatoes.
  • e.g.: Try to choose foods high in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat such as vegetable oils e.g. olive and sunflower oil.

Modifies a noun

  • grove: Snow blows through the olive groves, sifting against the tree roots.
  • oil: Olive oil is man's best source of energy.
  • tree: I have a small olive tree in a large pot.
  • branch: There is mention of an " olive branch " from Milburn.
  • orchard: Situated on a hillside with olive orchards nearby it has a pastoral Mediterranean look.
  • tapenade: The new Brazilian menu items include grilled halibut with grilled tomato and olive tapenade and parmesan cheese crusted chicken.

Noun used with modifier

  • tbsp: In a small frying pan heat the remaining tbsp olive oil and fry the bread cubes until crisp and brown.
  • tsp: Dinner Chickpea and Vegetable Satay Heat a tsp olive oil in a saucepan and gently cook a sliced onion.
olive Quotes

But beside it I have planted a green Bay-tree, öA sweet Bay, an Olive, and aTurkey Fig, öA Fig, an Olive, and a Bay.

—Bethell, (Mary) Ursula

Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.

—Bible (Old Testament)

The sailing pine, the cedar proud and tall, The vine-prop elm, the poplar never dry, The builder oak, sole king of forests all, The aspen good for staves, the cypress funeral. The laurel, meed of mighty conquerors And poets sage, the fir that weepeth still, The willow worn of forlorn paramours, The ewe obedient to the benders will, The birch for shafts, the sallow for the mill, The myrrh sweet bleeding in the bitter wound, The warlike beech, the ash for nothing ill, The fruitful olive, and the platan round, The carver holme, the maple seldom inward sound.

—Spenser, Edmund

And the dove came to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

—Bible (Old Testament)

Consider: only one bullet in ten thousand kills a man. Ask: was so much expenditure justified On the death of one so young and so silly Stretched under the olive trees,Oh, world,Oh, death?

—Spender, Sir Stephen Harold