From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Christmas \Christ"mas\, n. [Christ + mass.]
An annual church festival (December 25) and in some States a
legal holiday, in memory of the birth of Christ, often
celebrated by a particular church service, and also by
special gifts, greetings, and hospitality.
[1913 Webster]
{Christmas box}.
(a) A box in which presents are deposited at Christmas.
(b) A present or small gratuity given to young people and
servants at Christmas; a Christmas gift.
{Christmas carol}, a carol sung at, or suitable for,
Christmas.
{Christmas day}. Same as {Christmas}.
{Christmas eve}, the evening before Christmas.
{Christmas fern} (Bot.), an evergreen North American fern
({Aspidium acrostichoides}), which is much used for
decoration in winter.
{Christmas flower}, {Christmas rose}, the black hellebore, a
poisonous plant of the buttercup family, which in Southern
Europe often produces beautiful roselike flowers
midwinter.
{Christmas tree}, a small evergreen tree, set up indoors, to
be decorated with bonbons, presents, etc., and illuminated
on Christmas eve.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
Christmas tree
n 1: Australian tree or shrub with red flowers; often used in
Christmas decoration [syn: {Christmas bush}, {Christmas
tree}, {Ceratopetalum gummiferum}]
2: a terrestrial evergreen shrub or small tree of western
Australia having brilliant yellow-orange flowers; parasitic
on roots of grasses [syn: {flame tree}, {fire tree},
{Christmas tree}, {Nuytsia floribunda}]
3: tall timber tree of central and southern Europe having a
regular crown and grey bark [syn: {European silver fir},
{Christmas tree}, {Abies alba}]
4: medium to tall fir of western North America having a conic
crown and branches in tiers; leaves smell of orange when
crushed [syn: {amabilis fir}, {white fir}, {Pacific silver
fir}, {red silver fir}, {Christmas tree}, {Abies amabilis}]
5: an ornamented evergreen used as a Christmas decoration
From The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003) [jargon]:
Christmas tree
n.
A kind of RS-232 line tester or breakout box featuring rows of blinking red
and green LEDs suggestive of Christmas lights.
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