| Ivy | n.; pl. Ivies [ AS. īfig; akin to OHG. ebawi, ebah, G. epheu. ] (Bot.) A plant of the genus Hedera (Hedera helix), common in Europe. Its leaves are evergreen, dark, smooth, shining, and mostly five-pointed; the flowers yellowish and small; the berries black or yellow. The stem clings to walls and trees by rootlike fibers. [ 1913 Webster ] Direct
The clasping ivy where to climb. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ] Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sere. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]
American ivy. (Bot.) See Virginia creeper. --
English ivy (Bot.), a popular name in America for the ivy proper (Hedera helix). --
German ivy (Bot.), a creeping plant, with smooth, succulent stems, and fleshy, light-green leaves; a species of Senecio (Senecio scandens). --
Ground ivy. (Bot.) Gill (Nepeta Glechoma). --
Ivy bush. (Bot.) See Mountain laurel, under Mountain. --
Ivy owl (Zool.), the barn owl. --
Ivy tod (Bot.), the ivy plant. Tennyson. --
Japanese ivy (Bot.), a climbing plant (Ampelopsis tricuspidata), closely related to the Virginia creeper. --
Poison ivy (Bot.), an American woody creeper (Rhus Toxicodendron), with trifoliate leaves, and greenish-white berries. It is exceedingly poisonous to the touch for most persons. --
To pipe in an ivy leaf, to console one's self as best one can. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. --
West Indian ivy, a climbing plant of the genus Marcgravia. [ 1913 Webster ]
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