English Explanatory Dictionary

durmast oak

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A tree, Quercus petraea, the sessile oak.
  2. Wood of the tree.

Word forms

durmast oak durmast oaks

Etymology

Superficially a compound of durmast + oak, but the origin of durmast is unclear and possibly a result of scribal error. The first edition Oxford English Dictionary suggests that Thomas Martyn's dictionary for gardeners and botanists (1798) originated the word through misreading dun mast ("light-brown acorn"), an interpretation also suggested by some earlier works going back to at least 1836, although a connection to Welsh derw (“oaks”) has also been suggested.

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