oil palmn.
/ˈɔɪl pɑːm/, U.S. /ˈɔɪl ˌpɑ(l)m/, West African English /ˈɔjil ˌpam/ A palm tree that bears oil-yielding fruit or seed; spec. (a) (more fully African oil palm) Elaeis guineensis, the chief source of palm oil, native to West Africa but widely cultivated in tropical regions; (b) (more fully American oil palm) E. oleifera of tropical America.
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the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > non-British trees or shrubs > palm trees > [noun] > oil palms
macaw1657
groo-groo1796
macaw fat1801
oil palm1850
macca-fat palm1873
babassu1876
oil-berry tree1878
macca1892
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > plant, nut, or bean yielding oil > [noun] > trees or shrubs yielding oil > tropical > oil-palms
macaw1657
macaw fat1801
oil palm1850
macca-fat palm1873
babassu1876
oil-berry tree1878
1731 P. Miller Gardeners Dict. I. at Palma The Oily Palm grows in great Plenty on the Coast of Guiney..: But these Trees have been transplanted to Jamaica and Barbadoes, in both which Places they thrive very well.]
1850 N. Amer. Rev. July 29 The forests contain every kind of timber,—mahogany, ebony, dye-woods, the oil-palm, &c.
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. I. 443/2 Elæis guineensis, the African Oil Palm, which yields the celebrated palm oil, is a native of tropical Western Africa.
1907 W. G. Freeman & S. E. Chandler World's Commerc. Products 374 The well-known Oil Palm of the West Coast of Africa..furnishes two different oils.
1954 R. E. Holttum Plant Life Malaya vi. 81 Oil palms are the next most important oil crop [after coconut] in Malaya.
1974 G. Usher Dict. Plants used by Man 177/2 C[orozo] oleifera, (American Oil Palm, Corozo, Noli Palm).
1999 South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) 11 Oct. 9/1 A long-standing feud between an oil palm estate and local villagers over stray cattle.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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