oliva (oliva)

[NL., olivaceous (ol-i-vā'shius), a. [ 4103 an olive-green color; olive-green. - Olivaceous flycatchers, those members of the Tyrannide whose prevailing coloration is olivaceous. They are very numerous, especially in tropical and subtropical America, and erally of small size for their family. Those of the United States nearly all belong to the genera Con top us and Empi donax. See the cuts under these words, and olive - tyrant. olivadert, a. [For * olivater (?), Evelyn , Diary, May 30, 1662. olivary (ol'i-va-ri), a. [= F. olivaire, But the countries of the Aby enes, and Barbary, and Peru, where they are tawny and olivaster and pale, are generally more sandy and dry. Bacon , Nat. Hist., § 399. olive (ol'iv), n. and a. [ olive , olyve , olive , also olie , F. olive = Sp. Pg. It. oliva , oliva , an olive, not orig. L., but derived, with orig, digamma, ἐλαία , Attic ἐλάα , an olive-tree, an olive. Cf. έλαιον , olive-oil, oil: see oil .] I. n. 1. The oil-tree, Olea Europe a , cultivated from the earliest times in Syria and Palestine, and thence in remote antiquity distributed through out the whole Mediterranean region: in recent times it has been succe fully planted in Australia, southern California, and elsewhere. The olive is of low stature (some 40 feet) with rounded top; the trunk and branches are apt to be gnarled and fantastic, and the leaves are small and lance-shaped, dull-green 2 1. Branch of the Olive ( Olea Europe a), with fruits. 2. Branch with flowers. a, a flower. above and silvery beneath; the general effect is that of an ductivene , and thrives in poor and dry calcareous and lo is an evergreen of great longevity and pro sandy soils. Of the cultivated variety (O. sativa ) some twenty or thirty subvarieties are recognized. The wild variety (O. Oleaster ) has short blunt leaves, the branches more or le spiny, and a worthle fruit. It is native in southern Europe as well as Asia. The olive was anciently sacred to Pallas, and its leaves were used for victors' wreaths among the Greeks and Romans. (See olive -branch.) The value of the olive lies chiefly in the fruit; but its wood also is valuable. Olive - gum or Lecca - gum ( oliva ) exudes from the bark, and was formerly used as a stimulant, while the bark itself has served as a tonic. 2. The fruit of the common olive-tree, a small ellipsoid drupe (the "berry"), bluish-black in color when fully ripe. It is an important source of oil (see olive - oil ) and is also largely consumed in the form of preserved or pickled olives, consisting of the green colored unripe drupes, first soaked in water containing potash and lime to expel bitterne , and then bottled in an aromatized salt liquid. 3. A tree of some other species of Olea, or of some other genus resembling the olive. See Olea, and phrases below.-4. The color of the unripe olive; a color composed of yellow, black, red, and white in such proportions as to form a low-toned dull green, slightly yellow.-5. Same as oliva, 1.-6. A perforated plate in the strap of a satchel or traveling-bag, through which the stud or button pa es to fasten it.-7. A long oval button over which loops of braid are pa ed oliver as a fastening for cloaks, etc.-8. In an at., the olivary body of the medulla oblong at a.-9. In conch., an olive-shell.-10. In ornith., the oyster-catcher, Hem a top us ostrilegus. C. Swains on. [E ex, Eng.] - American olive, the devilwood. Bastard or mock olive, in Australia, Notelæa ligustrina and N. long i folia, the latter also called Botany Bay olive. - California olive, the Californian mountain laurel, Umbellularia Californica. Fragrant or sweet scented olive, Osmanthus ( Olea ) fragrans. - Holly-leafed olive, a fine compact shrub from Japan, Osmanthus (Olea) ilicifolia. - Queensland olive, Olea paniculata. Spurge-olive, the mezereon. --White olive. See Halle ria.- Wild olive. ( a ) The primitive form of the common olive (see def. 1); also, in India, Olea dioica. (b) One of various trees of other genera: in Europe, Elœagnus an gust i folia, Rhus Cotinus, and Thymelœa Sanamunda ( Daphne Thymelea ); in the West Indies, Bontia daphnoi des, Ximenia American a, Terminal i a Buceras, and T. capi tat a; in India, Putranjiva Roxburghii. II. a. Relating to the olive; of the color of the unripe olive; olivaceous; of a dull, somewhat yellowish green; also, of the color of the olive-tree, which in general effect is of a dull ashen-green, with distinctly silvery shading. olive back (ol'iv-bak), n. The olive-backed thrush, Turdus swains on i . It is widely distributed in North America, and is one of the common thrushes of the eastern parts of the United States, like the woodthrush, hermit-thrush, and veery. The upper parts are of a uniform olivaceous color, the lower are white, tinged with tawny and marked with a profusion of blackish spots on the breast; the length is about 7 inches. This thrush is migratory and insectivorous, and a fine songster; it nests in bushes, and lays pale greenish-blue eggs spotted with rusty-brown.