1. 1. A perennial woody plant having a main trunk and usually a distinct crown.
   2. A plant or shrub resembling a tree in form or size.
2. Something, such as a clothes tree, that resembles a tree in form.
3. A wooden beam, post, stake, or bar used as part of a framework or structure.
4. A saddletree.
5. A diagram that has branches in descending lines showing relationships as of hierarchy or lineage: a family tree; a telephone tree.
6. Computer Science. A structure for organizing or classifying data in which every item can be traced to a single origin through a unique path.
7. Archaic.
   1. A gallows.
   2. The cross on which Jesus was crucified.

1. To force up a tree: Dogs treed the raccoon.
2. Informal. To force into a difficult position; corner.
3. To supply with trees: treed the field with oaks.
4. To stretch (a shoe or boot) onto a shoetree.

up a tree Informal.

1. In a situation of great difficulty or perplexity; helpless.

[Middle English, from Old English trēow.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.