Forms: 1 ceder, -or, 3–6 cedre, (4 cedri), 4–5 cedir, -ur, -yr, (cyder, -yr, sydyr), 6 ceder, 6– cedar. [ME. cedre, a. OF. cedre, ad. L. cedrus, ad. Gr. κέδρος; (the OF. repr. of cedrus would have been cierre). OE. ceder was directly ad. Lat.]
1. A well-known evergreen conifer, the Pinus Cedrus of Linnæus, Abies Cedrus, Cedrus Libani of other botanists, called Cedar of Lebanon from its most famous early locality.
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. xxviii[x]. 5. Se God brycð þa hean ceder on Libano.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1379. Þe fader in cedre þou sal take, A tre of heght, þat has no make.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter ciii. 16. Þe cedres of Yban Whilk he planted with his hand.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. xxiii. (Tollem. MS.). The cedre is moste hyȝe tre, lady and quene of all tren.
a. 1520. Myrr. our Ladye, 282. Cedre, is a tree … so durable that yt rotteth neuer.
1560. Bible (Genev.), Song of Solomon i. 17. The beames of our house are cedars and our rafters of fire.
1588. Shaks., Tit. A., IV. iii. 45. Marcus we are but shrubs, no Cedars we.
1725. Berkeley, Prop., Wks. III. 222. Tall cedars that sheltered their orange trees from the north wind.
c. 1854. Stanley, Sinai & Pal., ii. (1858), 140. To them the cedar was a portent, a grand and awful work of God.
b. The wood of this tree.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 8007. Wandis … Of cydyr, pyne, and of cypress.
c. 1400. Maundev., ii. 10. Cedre may not, in Erthe ne in Watre, rote.
1430. Lydg., Chron. Troy, II. xi. The tymbre … Was halfe of Cedre as I reherse can.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 626. With Smoak of burning Cedar scent thy Walls.
1751. Chambers, Cycl., Cedar is of so dry a nature, that it will not endure to be fastened with iron nails.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, II. 331. In halls Of Lebanonian cedar.
2. Applied to the genus Cedrus, or subgenus of Abies, which contains beside the Cedar of Lebanon, the Mount Atlas or Silvery Cedar (A. or C. atlantica) and the Deodara or Indian Cedar (A. or C. Deodara). The distinguishing character of the cedars consists in the evergreen leaves disposed, many together, in fascicles, and the erect cones with their carpels separating from the axis.
3. Applied, with or without distinguishing epithet, to various trees more or less resembling the true cedar: including species of Cedrela, Juniperus, Thuja, Cupressus, Pinus, etc.: e.g., Barbadoes, Bermuda, Canary, Pencil-wood, Prickly, Virginia Red, White Cedar, which are species of Juniper; Barbadoes Bastard, Brazilian, Chinese, East Indian, Falsa, Honduras, Jamaica, Red Australian, Singapore, West Indian Cedar, which are species of Cedrela; British Columbian, Californian, White Cedar, which are Thujas; Bussaco, Goa, Oregon White, Port Orford White Cedar, which are Cypresses. Bastard Cedar, in different countries, applied to species of Cedrela, Dysoxylon, Grazuma, Icica. The ‘cedar’ used for black lead pencils is the wood of Juniperus bermudiana and virginiana, which also yield Oil of Cedar. Also Cape Cedar, Widdringtonia juniperoides; Dominica C., Bignonia Leucoxylon; Incense C., Libocedrus; Japan C., Cryptomeria japonica; Queensland C., Pentaceras australis; Red Californian C., Libocedrus decurrens; Russian C., Pinus Cembra; Water C., Chamæcy-paris.
1703. Art’s Improv., I. 26. Above all, is commended, the Oil of Cedar, or that of Juniper.
1725. Sloane, Jamaica, II. 128. The Cedar-Tree [Juniperus Barbadensis]…. It has a reddish, not close but lax, odoriferous Wood.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v., The cedar brought from Barbadoes and Jamaica is a spurious sort. Cedar cups … are made out of the wood of the bastard cedar.
1756. P. Browne, Jamaica, 13. The cedar [Cedrela odorata] and mahogany … may be raised with little care in all the waste hilly lands.
1794. Martyn, Rousseau’s Bot., xxix. 459. Bermuda Cedar is … imported for encasing black lead in pencils.
1856. Olmsted, Slave States, 151. The main production [of the Great Dismal Swamp] … has been of cypress and juniper; (the latter commonly known as white cedar, at the North).
1869. Oliver, Elem. Bot., II. 247. The wood of Juniperus virginiana is commonly used for ‘lead pencils,’ under the name of Red Cedar.
1880. ‘Silver & Co.,’ S. Africa (ed. 3), 125. They are patches of Cape Cedar … and this is the only locality in which the tree is found.
4. attrib. and Comb., as cedar beam (OE. = tree), forest, -nut, parlo(u)r, -pencil, pillar, -rail, shade, -swamp, top, -tree, -wood; cedar-colo(u)red, -like adjs.; also cedar-bird, the American Wax-wing, Ampelis carolinensis, a species of Chatterer haunting cedar-trees; cedar-nut, the seed of Pinus Cembra.
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. ciii[iv]. 16. Cwice *ceder-beamas, þa ðu cuðlice sylfa ʓesettest.
1611. Bible, 1 Kings vii. 2. With Cedar beames vpon the pillars.
1871. Lowell, Study Wind. (1886), 7. A flock of *cedar-birds comes.
1883. J. Burroughs, in Century Mag., Sept., 686/2. I noted three nests of the cedar-bird the past August in a single orchard.
1836. W. Irving, Astoria, I. 154. A *cedar canoe.
1807. Vancouver, Agric. Devon (1813), 36. A *cedar-coloured soil equally well-stapled.
1802. Southey, Thalaba, I. xxii. The woodman’s axe Open’d the *cedar-forest to the sun.
1631. B. Jonson, New Inn, III. i. (1692), 732/2 (R.). His tall And growing Gravity so *Cedar-like.
1863. Mrs. Atkinson, Tartar Steppes, 57. Each lady having a plate in her hand filled with *cedar nuts, which she was occupied in cracking and eating.
1878. Morley, Diderot, II. 48. The atmosphere of the *cedar-parlour.
1611. Bible, 1 Kings vii. 2. Foure rowes of *Cedar pillars.
1856. Olmsted, Slave States, 151. Rough poles of the juniper, under the name of *‘cedar-rails,’ are sent to New York.
a. 1835. Mrs. Hemans, Graves of Househ. The Indian knows his place of rest, Far in the *cedar shade.
1876. Page, Adv. Text-bk. Geol., xiv. 267. The pine-barrens and *cedar-swamps of America.
1592. Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 858. *Cedar tops and hills seem burnished gold.
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. xxviii[ix] 5. Þæs Godes word brycþ *cedor-treowu.
1611. Bible, Numb. xxiv. 6. As Cedar trees beside the waters. Ibid., Ezra iii. 7. Bring Cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Ioppa.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe (1840), I. xvi. 272. I pitched upon a … cedar-tree.
1611. Bible, 1 Chron. xxii. 4. They of Tyre, brought much *Cedar wood to Dauid.
1887. Whitaker’s Almanack, 442/1. [Among] the chief exports [of Costa Rica] are … cedar-wood, tortoise-shell.
