White cedar Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun small evergreen of eastern North America having tiny scalelike leaves on flattened branchlets
    northern white cedar; Thuja occidentalis; American arborvitae.
  2. noun slow-growing medium-sized cedar of east coast of the United States; resembles American arborvitae
    Atlantic white cedar; white cypress; coast white cedar; southern white cedar; Chamaecyparis thyoides.

WordNet


Definitions
  1. (Bot.), an evergreen tree of North America (Thuja occidentalis), also the related Cupressus thyoides, or Chamæcyparis sphæroidea, a slender evergreen conifer which grows in the so-called cedar swamps of the Northern and Atlantic States. Both are much valued for their durable timber. In California the name is given to the Libocedrus decurrens, the timber of which is also useful, though often subject to dry rot. Goodale. The white cedar of Demerara, Guiana, etc., is a lofty tree (Icica, ∨ Bursera, altissima) whose fragrant wood is used for canoes and cabinetwork, as it is not attacked by insect.

Webster 1913