mistletoe

American mistletoe

Phoradendron leucarpum

mis·tle·toe

(mĭs′əl-tō′)

1. Any of various hemiparasitic plants of the order Santalales that grow on the branches of other plants, especially Viscum album of Eurasia and Phoradendron leucarpum of North America, both of which have leathery evergreen leaves and waxy white berries. Extracts of the Eurasian species are sometimes used for medicinal purposes.

2. A sprig of mistletoe, often used as a Christmas decoration.

[Middle English mistelto, back-formation from Old English misteltān (tān, taken for pl. of tā, toe) : mistel, mistletoe; see meigh- in Indo-European roots + tān, twig.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

mistletoe

(ˈmɪsəlˌtəʊ)

1. (Plants) a Eurasian evergreen shrub, Viscum album, with leathery leaves, yellowish flowers, and waxy white berries: grows as a partial parasite on various trees: used as a Christmas decoration: family Viscaceae

2. (Plants) any of several similar and related American plants in the families Loranthaceae or Viscaceae, esp Phoradendron flavescens

3. (Plants) mistletoe cactus an epiphytic cactus, Rhipsalis cassytha, that grows in tropical America

[Old English misteltān, from mistel mistletoe + tān twig; related to Old Norse mistilteinn]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

mis•tle•toe

(ˈmɪs əlˌtoʊ)

n.

1. a European plant, Viscumalbum, having yellowish flowers and white berries, growing parasitically on trees: used in Christmas decorations.

2. any of several other similar and related plants, as Phoradendron serotinum, of the U.S.

[before 1000; Middle English mistelto, appar. back formation from Old English misteltān (mistel mistletoe, basil + tān twig), the -n being taken as pl. ending]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	mistletoe - American plants closely resembling Old World mistletoe false mistletoe genus Phoradendron, Phoradendron - any of various American parasitic plants similar to Old World mistletoe: false mistletoe American mistletoe, Phoradendron flavescens, Phoradendron serotinum - the traditional mistletoe of Christmas in America: grows on deciduous trees and can severely weaken the host plant parasitic plant - plant living on another plant and obtaining organic nutriment from it
	2.	mistletoe - Old World parasitic shrub having branching greenish stems with leathery leaves and waxy white glutinous berries; the traditional mistletoe of Christmas Old World mistletoe, Viscum album genus Viscum, Viscum - type genus of the Viscaceae: Old World evergreen shrubs parasitic on many trees including oaks but especially apple trees, poplars, aspens and cottonwoods parasitic plant - plant living on another plant and obtaining organic nutriment from it
	3.	mistletoe - shrub of central and southeastern Europe; partially parasitic on beeches, chestnuts and oaks Loranthus europaeus genus Loranthus, Loranthus - type genus of the Loranthaceae: 1 species parasitic plant - plant living on another plant and obtaining organic nutriment from it

Translations

نَبَاتُ الهُدَال

jmelí

mistelten

visko

misteli

imela

fagyöngy

mistilteinn

vischio

ヤドリギ

겨우살이

amalaslaumės šluota

āmulis

imelo

mistel

ไม้จำพวกกาฝากขึ้นตามต้นไม้

ökseotu

cây tầm gửi

槲寄生

mistletoe

[ˈmɪsltəʊ] N → muérdago m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

mistletoe

[ˈmɪs^əltəʊ] n → gui m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

mistletoe

n → Mistel f; (= sprig) → Mistelzweig m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

mistletoe

[ˈmɪslˌtəʊ] n → vischio

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

mistletoe

(ˈmisltəu) noun

a plant with white berries, used in Christmas decorations.

mistletoe

→ نَبَاتُ الهُدَال jmelí mistelten Mistel γκι muérdago misteli gui imela vischio ヤドリギ 겨우살이 maretak misteltein jemioła visco омела mistel ไม้จำพวกกาฝากขึ้นตามต้นไม้ ökseotu cây tầm gửi 槲寄生

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

"Never mind that, it's mistletoe, and anyone who stands under it will get kissed whether they like it or not.

"Oh, the mistletoe bough!" echoed all the boys, and the teasing ended in the plaintive ballad they all liked so well.

View in context

From the centre of the ceiling of this kitchen, old Wardle had just suspended, with his own hands, a huge branch of mistletoe, and this same branch of mistletoe instantaneously gave rise to a scene of general and most delightful struggling and confusion; in the midst of which, Mr.

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She said acorns would produce mistletoe, from which an irremediable poison, the bird- lime, would be extracted and by which they would be captured.

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"There, don't you see?" said East, pointing to a lump of mistletoe in the next tree, which was a beech.

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The crisp leaves of holly, mistletoe, and ivy reflected back the light, as if so many little mirrors had been scattered there; and such a mighty blaze went roaring up the chimney, as that dull petrification of a hearth had never known in Scrooge's time, or Marley's, or for many and many a winter season gone.

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There was not a tree in the yard that did not have mushrooms growing around its foot, or a bunch of mistletoe hanging in its branches.

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Far behind the corner of the house--which rose like a geranium bloom against the subdued colours around--stretched the soft azure landscape of The Chase--a truly venerable tract of forest land, one of the few remaining woodlands in England of undoubted primaeval date, wherein Druidical mistletoe was still found on aged oaks, and where enormous yew-trees, not planted by the hand of man grew as they had grown when they were pollarded for bows.

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Covered with shining tufts of mistletoe, the branches of the neglected fruit-trees gave no sign of fruit.

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His old woods' training was aroused, and he was keenly interested in everything in the moss on the trees and branches; in the bunches of mistletoe hanging in the oaks; in the nest of a wood-rat; in the water-cress growing in the sheltered eddies of the little stream; in the butterflies drifting through the rifted sunshine and shadow; in the blue jays that flashed in splashes of gorgeous color across the forest aisles; in the tiny birds, like wrens, that hopped among the bushes and imitated certain minor quail-calls; and in the crimson-crested woodpecker that ceased its knocking and cocked its head on one side to survey him.

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An unusual air of gallantry and dissipation is abroad; evinced in an immense bunch of mistletoe hanging in the greengrocer's shop doorway, and a poor little Twelfth Cake, culminating in the figure of a Harlequin--such a very poor little Twelfth Cake, that one would rather called it a Twenty- fourth Cake or a Forty-eighth Cake--to be raffled for at the pastrycook's, terms one shilling per member.

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In fastening upon public offices, like a mistletoe on a pear-tree, these officials indemnified themselves amply, and in the following manner.

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