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Olive branch   /ˈɑləv bræntʃ/   Listen
noun
Olive  n.  
1.
(Bot.)
(a)
A tree (Olea Europaea) with small oblong or elliptical leaves, axillary clusters of flowers, and oval, one-seeded drupes. The tree has been cultivated for its fruit for thousands of years, and its branches are the emblems of peace. The wood is yellowish brown and beautifully variegated.
(b)
The fruit of the olive. It has been much improved by cultivation, and is used for making pickles. Olive oil is pressed from its flesh.
2.
(Zool.)
(a)
Any shell of the genus Oliva and allied genera; so called from the form. See Oliva.
(b)
The oyster catcher. (Prov. Eng.)
3.
(a)
The color of the olive, a peculiar dark brownish, yellowish, or tawny green.
(b)
One of the tertiary colors, composed of violet and green mixed in equal strength and proportion.
4.
(Anat.) An olivary body. See under Olivary.
5.
(Cookery) A small slice of meat seasoned, rolled up, and cooked; as, olives of beef or veal. Note: Olive is sometimes used adjectively and in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, olive brown, olive green, olive-colored, olive-skinned, olive crown, olive garden, olive tree, olive yard, etc.
Bohemian olive (Bot.), a species of Elaeagnus (Elaeagnus angustifolia), the flowers of which are sometimes used in Southern Europe as a remedy for fevers.
Olive branch.
(a)
A branch of the olive tree, considered an emblem of peace.
(b)
(Fig.) A child.
to hold out an olive branch, to offer to make peace (with a rival or enemy).
Olive brown, brown with a tinge of green.
Olive green, a dark brownish green, like the color of the olive.
Olive oil, an oil expressed from the ripe fruit of the olive, and much used as a salad oil, also in medicine and the arts.
Olive ore (Min.), olivenite.
Wild olive (Bot.), a name given to the oleaster or wild stock of the olive; also variously to several trees more or less resembling the olive.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Olive branch" Quotes from Famous Books



... truth of this I can myself vouch, for Alexandra Feodorovna had, since her holy Father had received the secret dispatch, spared no effort to induce the Emperor and the Cabinet to accept the olive branch. ...
— The Minister of Evil - The Secret History of Rasputin's Betrayal of Russia • William Le Queux
... national character may be used, if desired. Thanksgiving and Happy New Year, large girls in white Grecian dresses, flowing sleeves; their children, Peace and Plenty, Good Resolutions and Hope are represented by smaller girls in white, Peace carrying an olive branch. Plenty a cornucopia, Good Resolutions a diary and pen, and Hope wearing a wreath of golden stars and carrying a gilt anchor (cut from heavy cardboard); Santa Claus, a stout, roly-poly boy, if possible, wearing ...
— Christmas Entertainments • Alice Maude Kellogg
... speech was more moderate than I expected it would be, and as he holds out an olive branch in the form of a joint enquiry into the franchise proposals, would it not be well to meet him in this matter? I know that it might be ...
— Boer Politics • Yves Guyot
... French alliance brought assistance to the Americans, it induced the English Government to undertake a more vigorous prosecution of the war. The ministers had doubtless thought that the policy of conducting the war with the olive branch and the sword in either hand would prove successful. Certainly Howe had so interpreted his instructions. He had fought only when it was necessary to fight; easily accomplished everything he seriously ...
— Beginnings of the American People • Carl Lotus Becker
... Slave States bordering on the Mississippi, although I consider that they would suffer little from a war, as neither England, nor any other nation, will ever be so unwise in future as to attack in a quarter, where she would have extended the olive branch, even if it were not immediately accepted. Whether America is engaged in war, therefore, or remains in peace, the Western States must, and will soon be the arbiters, and dictate as they please to ...
— Diary in America, Series Two • Frederick Marryat (AKA Captain Marryat)


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