Christmas tree

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English

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(1) a Christmas tree.
The emoji for Christmas tree. There's an entry at 🎄

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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  • enPR: krĭsʹ-məs-trē, IPA(key): /ˈkɹɪsməs tɹiː/
  • Audio (Canada):(file)

Noun

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Christmas tree (plural Christmas trees)

  1. A conifer used during the Christmas holiday season, typically decorated with lights and ornaments and often a star or angel at its tip.
    • 1994, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Hippopotamus:
      At the very moment he cried out, David realised that what he had run into was only the Christmas tree. Disgusted with himself at such cowardice, he spat a needle from his mouth, stepped back from the tree and listened. There were no sounds of any movement upstairs: no shouts, no sleepy grumbles, only a gentle tinkle from the decorations as the tree had recovered from the collision.
    • 2023 December 27, David Turner, “Silent lines...”, in RAIL, number 999, page 29:
      In 1958, it was reported that for "the fourth year in succession, staff of four South London stations have combined to decorate the booking hall at Peckham Rye station". They installed a nativity scene, models of Father Christmas, and a sleigh driven by huskies, and Christmas trees were placed around the station.
  2. (informal, by extension) Anything elaborately ornamented or decorated.
    • 1985, Forbes, volume 135:
      The modern infantryman is a Christmas tree of weaponry, with grenades and extra ammunition hanging from all parts of his upper body.
  3. (motor racing) A pole with lights, similar to a traffic signal, used for signalling the start of an automobile race.
    • 1990 January, Popular Mechanics, volume 167, number 1, page 96:
      Then, after a smoky-burnout to warm up the tires, you're lined up next to another competitor and the Christmas tree lights blink down... yellow, yellow, yellow, green!
  4. (oil industry jargon) The collection of valves sometimes found at the top of a working oil well.
    • 2011, Robert Heidersbach, Metallurgy and Corrosion Control in Oil and Gas Production, →ISBN, page 232:
      Wellheads, which support downhole tubing, casing, and other components, are connected at the top of wells to Christmas trees, which control production rates and fluid flows out of the well and may also direct fluids and equipment into the well
  5. (bodybuilding) A pattern of muscles visible in the lower back, resembling in outline the shape of a conifer.
    • 2013, Cory Gregory, “Get Jacked! The 1,000 Rep Workout”, in Fitness Rx, 11(4): 56:
      These are great for really developing that Christmas tree in your lower back and the proper arch at the top is key in that regard.
  6. (aviation, historical) A type of alert area constructed by the Strategic Air Command of the United States Air Force during the Cold War.
  7. (military, slang) A panel of indicator lights in an aircraft or a submarine.
    • 1954, Medicine and Surgery Bureau, A Bibliographic Sourcebook of Compressed Air, Diving and Submarine Medicine, page 121:
      One of the most important color discriminations involved in the operation of a submarine is that of reading the "Christmas tree," a panel of 30 to 60 small jewel-shaped lights, used to indicate whether hull openings, such as hatches and vents, are sealed or not.

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Translations

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Further reading

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