pioneern.adj.
/ˌpʌɪəˈnɪə/, U.S. /ˌpaɪəˈnɪ(ə)r/ A. n.† 2. Scottish. A labourer or porter. Cf. piner n.2 Obsolete.
1. Military.† b. A person employed as a digger or excavator; a miner, a quarrier. Obsolete.
a. A member of an infantry group going with or ahead of an army or regiment to dig trenches, repair roads, and clear terrain in readiness for the main body of troops. Also: †a soldier specializing in digging mines during a siege; an underminer (obsolete). Cf. sapper n.1
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society > armed hostility > warrior > soldier > soldier with special duty > [noun] > pioneer
pioneer1517
piner1581
hatchet man1668
1517 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1903) V. 154 To James Hogis xxiiij peonaris quhilkis passit to the said raid.
1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. cccxlviii. 555 The erle..sent great nombre of pioners and men of armes to assyste them.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry V f. lviv Withal diligence the pyoners cast trenches.
1590 ‘Pasquil’ First Pt. Pasquils Apol. sig. D3v He cals out his Pianers, and sets Martin and Penrie a worke to vndermine it.
1617 F. Moryson Itinerary ii. 115 Our Pioners had been busied in fortifying and building a new Fort at Blackwater.
1626 Proclamation §8 in Maldon (Essex) Borough Deeds (Bundle 118, No. 13) To euery thousand Souldiers, there be allotted one hundred pioners, to be prouided with Pickaxes, Shouels, Hatchets, Bills and the like.
1675 in J. H. Trumbull Public Rec. Colony Connecticut (1852) II. 394 If any shall negligently loose or sinfully play away their armes at cardes or dice, or otherwayes, they shall be kept as pioneers or scavengers till they furnish themselues with good armes.
1744 M. Bishop Life Matthew Bishop 8 We Pioneers were ordered to go to St. Catherine's Castle, but we were preceded by a Summons, upon which it surrendered.
1768 T. Simes Mil. Medley (ed. 2) Pioneers are soldiers armed with firelock..saw and hatchet... They are employed in cutting down trees, and making the roads..for the army to march.
1803 Duke of Wellington Dispatches (1837) I. 533 My pioneers are at work upon the Bhore Ghaut.
1846 H. H. Wilson Hist. Brit. India 1805–35 II. ii. 70 The brigade halted, while the pioneers were busily employed in rendering the ascent practicable for laden cattle, and stores, and ammunition.
1894 Dict. National Biogr. XIV. 4/2 He was made by the king captain of pioneers and principal waster-gunner of all Scotland.
1918 E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms 450 Pioneer, a military laborer employed to form roads, dig trenches, and make bridges as an army advances, and to preserve cleanliness in the camp when it halts.
1993 A. Horne Price of Glory (BNC) 146 The road [to Verdun] was divided up into six cantonments, each with its own crews of pioneers and vast workshops to service the primitive vehicles.
2003 Hamilton (Ont.) Spectator 3 Oct. a 15 Sergeant Robert Short was a veteran Canadian army pioneer, a light engineer who spent his time in Bosnia defusing landmines and blowing up unexploded ordnance.
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society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > miner > [noun]
minerc1390
digger1531
pioneer1552
mineman1579
groover1610
berman1677
Vulcana1680
pitman1709
pikeman1744
Geordie1861
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > earth-movers, etc. > [noun] > digger or excavator > of trenches or ditches
dikerc1000
ditcherc1430
pioneer1552
trencher1871
1552–3 in R. Adam Edinb. Rec. (1899) I. 85 To the peonaris at the querrell.
1572 R. Harrison tr. L. Lavater Of Ghostes i. xvi. 73 Pioners or diggers for mettal.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 469 An inhibition, that the publicanes who fermed that mine of the city, should not keepe aboue fiue thousand pioners together at worke there.
1640 D. Whistler in Horti Carol., Rosa Altera sig. c5v So when a Mine's discover'd..It cheeres the Pioner.
1729 W. Mackintosh Ess. on Inclosing Scotl. Postscr. xlix If a Gentleman..hireth Men to gain Stones, and lead them, Pioneers, and Masons.
1798 T. Connelly & T. Higgins New Dict. Spanish & Eng. Lang. I. at Barretéro A pioneer who works in a mine, or quarry with a crow, wedge, or pick-axe.
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society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > [noun] > manual worker > labourer or unskilled
labourera1393
laboura1425
pioneer1543
hand1551
heaver1587
yard boy1776
son of toil1779
spalpeen1780
hacker1784
khalasi1785
tiger1865
cafone1872
mucker1899
mazdoor1937
bracero1946
manamba1959
nkuba kyeyo1991
1543–4 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1908) VIII. 247 Certane pure men, pyonaris, quhilkis removit certane of his gracis cofferis.
1558 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1913) X. 421 To the pyonaris for carying, paking.
1644 D. Buchanan Knox's Hist. Reformation Scotl. (rev. ed.) v. 448 When many of the common people had gazed long upon the Kings corpse, the Queene caused it to bee brought down to the pallace by some Pioners.
1666 in R. S. Mylne Master Masons to Crown of Scotl. (1893) 153 Four good able barrowmen pioneirs skillfull to make morter and bear stones.
3. A person who goes before others to prepare or open up the way; one who begins, or takes part in beginning, some enterprise, course of action, etc.; an original worker in a particular field or department of knowledge; a founder (of some activity, industry, movement, etc.); an innovator, a forerunner.In the 17th cent. usually a figurative use of ‘miner’ or ‘underminer’ (see miner n.1 1a, underminer n. 1).
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the world > action or operation > prosperity > advancement or progress > [noun] > pioneering or breaking new ground > a pioneer
pioneer1605
outstarter1738
advance guard1759
path-breaker1843
pathfinder1847
torch-bearer1847
path-hewer1879
pacesetter1895
pacemaker1905
trail-blazer1908
style-setter1959
1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Ff4 To make two professions or occupations of Naturall Philosophers, some to bee Pionners, and some Smythes. View more context for this quotation
1627 G. Hakewill Apologie i. ii. 22 The other pioner,..which by secret vndermining makes way for this opinion of the Worlds decay, is an excessiue admiration of Antiquitie.
1700 R. Blackmore Isaiah xl, in Paraphr. Job 266 Ye Pioneers of Heav'n, prepare a Road.
1768 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued II. iii. xxvi. 140 Come then..Philology, pioneer of the abstruser Sciences, to prepare the way for their passage.
1838 Times 27 Nov. 5/3 He..may be called a pioneer of literature.
1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. I. xxiii. 300 The great pioneer of Arctic travel, Sir Edward Parry.
1866 Duke of Argyll Reign of Law ii. 111 The great pioneers in new paths of discovery.
1901 Dict. National Biogr. Suppl. I. 137/2 Bateman was not only the pioneer of orchid culture, he was also one of the first to advocate ‘cool’ orchid cultivation.
1951 Landfall 5 278 Miss Dane..imagined herself a pioneer of progress in a wayback community.
1976 N. Botham & P. Donnelly Valentino x. 79 Lewis Selznick, the Kiev-born jewellery salesman turned movie pioneer.
2001 Art Room Catal. Autumn 58/2 This commanding mirror shows that Mackintosh was as much a pioneer of Art Deco as he was a practitioner of Art Nouveau.
4.
a. A person who is amongst the first to explore or settle a new country, territory, or region; an early colonist or settler. Now chiefly historical.
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society > travel > aspects of travel > traveller > [noun] > explorer or discoverer
finder1405
explorer1577
Columbus1593
pioneera1817
explorator1836
pathfinder1840
path-cleaver1896
trail-blazer1908
trail-hound1931
1782 J. H. St. J. de Crèvecoeur Lett. from Amer. Farmer iii. 57 Such is our progress, such is the march of the Europeans towards the interior parts of this continent. In all societies there are off-casts; this impure part serves as our precursors or pioneers.]
a1817 T. Dwight Trav. New-Eng. & N.-Y. (1821) II. 459 A considerable part of those, who begin the cultivation of the wilderness, may be denominated foresters, or Pioneers.
1836 W. Irving Astoria III. 262 As one wave of emigration after another rolls into the vast regions of the west,..the eager eyes of our pioneers will pry beyond.
1863 D. Wilson Prehistoric Ann. Scotl. (ed. 2) II. iv. i. 170 A band of pioneers..effected a settlement in the southern part of Argyleshire.
1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer (1891) 147 He made the acquaintance of more than one silver-haired pioneer.
1922 J. Lewis Fought & Won 1 My parents were pioneers and landed in South Australia in 1836.
1949 N. Dakota Hist. Jan. 5 The days of the pioneer and homesteader are gone.
1988 High Life (Brit. Airways) Apr. 13/3 Big Bend National Park..hasn't changed at all since the days of the pioneers.
2002 Wanderlust Feb. 90/1 Oxwagons were originally used during treks into the hinterland by early pioneers.
b. Ecology. A pioneer species, plant, etc. (see sense B. 4).
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the world > plants > by habitat or distribution > [noun] > non-native or migrant
stranger1578
exotic1682
alien1847
colonizer1856
migrant1874
immigrant1880
adventive1883
pioneer1911
neophyte1916
wool alien1919
casual1926
1911 F. W. Oliver in A. G. Tansley Types Brit. Vegetation xiv. iii. 361 There is a good deal of vegetation present, though it is always patchy, corresponding..to the facilities for spreading enjoyed by a restricted number of pioneers.
1953 H. L. Edlin Forester's Handbk. viii. 113 As a general rule, the light-demanders are also pioneers, capable..of forming a vigorous first crop on bare land.
1967 M. E. Hale Biol. Lichens vii. 96 Lichens are conspicuous pioneers on rocks.
2005 Forestry & Brit. Timber (Nexis) 4 Jan. 4 Native tree species outperform many of the exotics typically used for land reclamation, and larger, long-lived species have better survival and growth rates than pioneers.
5. In specific uses (frequently with capital initial).
a. In Ireland: a member of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association; a teetotaller.
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the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > abstention from drinking > [noun] > total abstinence > total abstainer
water-drinker1440
abstainerc1475
Rechabite1637
drink-watera1641
hydropotist1678
hydropot1727
teetotal1834
teetotaller1834
teetotalist1840
Washingtonian1842
Good Templar1853
teetotalleress1854
blue-ribbonist1858
nephalist1861
total abstainer1862
blue-ribbonite1867
totec1870
Templar1874
blue ribboner1878
total abstinent1882
water butt1882
white ribboner1886
non-drinker1910
pioneer1912
T.T.1922
the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > abstention from drinking > [adjective] > total abstinence > relating to teetotal person
pioneer1912
1910 Membership Card 31 Oct. in Golden Jubilee Pioneer Total Abstinence Assoc. (1981) 3/1 The Pioneer Total Abstinence League of the Sacred Heart.]
1912 Irish Catholic 3 Feb. 6/5 The Association is divided into two sections—Pioneers and Probationers of two years' trial.
1948 Pioneer Jan. 9/1 There are more than 300,000 Pioneers and Probationers in Ireland.
1976 W. Mankowitz Hebrew Lesson 5 ‘There's the wine for the Sabbath... Take some.’ ‘Not strong drink. I'm a pioneer.’
1992 B. Gill Death of Love xiv. 200 ‘Hasn't he told you, yah? Gladden's our local Pioneer.’ The Pioneers were a Catholic society who forswore alcohol of any kind.
b. In the Soviet Union and other communist countries: a member of the Young Pioneers, an organization for children founded in 1922 as a junior section of the Komsomol with the aim of fostering communist ideals. Also in extended use. Now chiefly historical.
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society > authority > rule or government > politics > party politics > a party > [noun] > Communist Party > a communist organization > specific communist or socialist organizations > member of
internationalist1870
pioneer1925
1925 Times 1 Jan. 11/5 The article begins with one of the numerous ditties of the pioneers' repertoire.
1926 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 32 163 The Organization of Pioneers leads children from six to eighteen years of age into atheism and prepares them for the Komsomol.
1930 I. Low His Master's Voice x. 120 The streets grew merry with the drums of the pioneers, with flags, with the strains of the International.
1959 A. Wesker Chicken Soup with Barley i. ii, in New Eng. Dramatists I. 193 We didn't force her to be in the pioneers... Show a young person what socialism means and he can't do anything else but accept it.
2003 National Post (Canada) 19 Sept. a14 The Free German Youth was modeled after the Soviet Young Pioneers—where the highest ideal was to place the state ahead of one's own family.
B. adj. (attributive).
1. Military. Of, relating to, or designating soldiers going ahead of the main body of troops to prepare the way. Cf. pioneer corps n.
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1733 in Acts of Assembly, Island Jamaica (1738) 268 A Number of White and Black, Shott and Baggage Negroes, as well as Pioneer or labouring Negroes, for building and erecting Barracks, and cutting of Roads.
1759 W. Harte Hist. Life Gustavus Adolphus I. 286 It is amazing to imagine how much pioneer-work the king effected during this short siege.
1851 F. Baylies Narr. Major Gen. Wool's Campaign in Mexico 12 The indefatigable exertions of those distinguished officers..of the corps of engineers, they having prepared the way with a pioneer company, by leveling hills, filling ravines, making bridges, &c.
1990 Independent (Nexis) 8 Mar. 12 Vaclav Braunstein, of the Czech Ministry of Industry, said yesterday that the Semtex was for ‘military use by pioneer troops’.
2. Of, belonging to, or designating the early explorers or settlers of an area. Also figurative.
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1836 W. Irving Astoria I. 243 He..felt a throb of his old pioneer spirit, impelling him to..join the adventurous band.
1869 J. McBride (title) Pioneer biography, sketches of the lives of some of the early settlers of Butler County, Ohio.
1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer (1891) 202 The pioneer-squatter's humble woolshed.
1935 N.Y. Times 4 Apr. 2 ‘Boon doggles’ is simply a term applied back in the pioneer days to what we call gadgets today.
1941 J. S. Huxley Uniqueness of Man ii. 56 Immigrants were pre-selected for..the qualities making up the pioneer spirit.
1957 M. Paice Valley in North 104 His favourite chair, a bush-made affair of poles and plaited rawhide, relic of pioneer days.
1992 N.Y. Times 28 June v. 23/5 A pioneer wagon that made the trip from Ohio to central North Dakota in 1882.
2003 Holiday Which? Spring 78/3 Glenelg was the landing site of the pioneer settlers [of South Australia] back in 1836.
3. Pioneering, innovative; that is a forerunner in its field.
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the world > action or operation > prosperity > advancement or progress > [adjective] > pioneering
pioneering1785
pioneer1845
pace-setting1902
groundbreaking1904
front line1914
style-setting1955
breakthrough1956
leading edge1977
1845 Defiance (Ohio) Democrat 10 July This is the pioneer rail road in Indiana, and..hampered with unusual difficulties and embarrassments.
1874 Scribner's Monthly 8 63/1 The pioneer apartment houses in New York are the well-known Stuyvesant Buildings, the first..having been opened in the fall of 1870.
1933 Burlington Mag. Nov. 193/1 Valuable pioneer work..has been done.
1942 F. R. Moulton Aerobiol. p. iii Aerobiology..had its origin in the pioneer experiments of Spallanzani, in 1776.
1966 J. D. Kraus Radio Astron. iii. 66 The name jansky (abbreviated jan), after the pioneer radio astronomer Karl G. Jansky, has been proposed for this unit.
1993 Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 17 Nov. 2352/2 This pioneer chromosomal assignment of a specific gene was done by family linkage studies.
4. Ecology. Relating to or designating an organism or community which is the first to colonize an unoccupied area, esp. a plant that establishes itself on bare or disturbed ground.
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the world > plants > by habitat or distribution > [adjective] > relating to non-native flora
non-native1855
adventive1856
pioneer1875
colonizing1880
introduced1884
alien1903
1875 A. Barron Foot Notes 107 The forest..always has its pioneer trees ready to go forward and take possession of an old field, no matter how exhausted it may be.
1929 J. E. Weaver & F. E. Clements Plant Ecol. viii. 147 The reactions of the pioneer stage may be unfavorable to the pioneers themselves.
1933 Forestry 7 140 Scots pine is the native conifer of the district, and has also undeniable merits as a first crop, or pioneer species, on the..moorlands of the district.
1960 N. Polunin Introd. Plant Geogr. xiv. 456 The fringe of the mangrove, at least where it does not consist of young pioneer plants, is made up of tall trees.
1990 Forestry 63 95 The common belief that Douglas fir is a secondary pioneer species that regenerates and establishes itself after extensive forest fires..is incorrect.
Derivatives
pioˈneerlike adj.
ΚΠ
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Pionnier: m., ere: f., made by, or belonging to, a Pioner; Pioner-like.
1887 St. Joseph (Mich.) Herald 19 Nov. 3/1 Theo. C. Lutz, pioneer-like leads the way to Fyfe's pleasant addition to the village of St. Joseph.
1995 Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch (Nexis) 21 July 3 d Thinking I was on my own because—pioneerlike—I was the only member of my family to be in that place at that time.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
pioneerv.
/ˌpʌɪəˈnɪə/, U.S. /ˌpaɪəˈnɪ(ə)r/ 1. † a. transitive. Military. To mine or undermine as or like a pioneer (in quots. figurative). Obsolete.
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1711 G. Cary Physician's Phylactic 212 It is most dismal to behold those Hellish Furies to Pioneer it [sc. Christ's kingdom] with odious Calumny..and to dig Mines with the most Diabolical Malice to subvert this Kingdom.
1713 S. Parker tr. St. Athanasius Four Orations against Arians II. sig. A3 If the Foundations of a Church be Sapp'd and Pioneer'd to pieces, how should that Superstructure of Faith and Unanimity..any longer stand?
b. transitive. To prepare, clear, open up (a path, way, etc.) as or like a pioneer. Also figurative.
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the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > prepare [verb (transitive)] > as a pioneer
pioneer1780
the world > action or operation > prosperity > advancement or progress > advance, progress, or develop [verb (intransitive)] > lead the way
to begin, lead the dancec1325
to lead (also rule) the ringa1450
to lead (bear, have) the vana1661
pioneer1780
to take up the running1825
blaze1841
to lead the way1874
1780 S. J. Pratt Emma Corbett II. 48 The veteran Carbines,..having platooned and pioneered it for a number of years..could keep the field no longer.
1794 E. Burke in W. Burke & E. Burke tr. J. P. Brissot To his Constituents Pref. p. xxiv Crimes had pioneered and made smooth the way for the march of the virtues.
1831 M. W. Shelley Frankenstein (rev. ed.) iii. 34 I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation.
1850 J. S. Blackie in tr. Æschylus Lyrical Dramas I. 318 Artificers..to pioneer the path for the procession.
1898 S. Evans Holy Graal 189 In pioneering the way for future research.
1958 J. K. Galbraith Affluent Society viii. 83 The average man..was following a path that had been pioneered by the modern business firm.
1991 R. Oliver Afr. Experience (1993) xi. 143 When the Portuguese placed their custom houses at the Zambezi mouth, the Yao pioneered an overland route connecting the country north of the lower Zambezi with Kilwa.
c. intransitive. To go in advance in the manner of a pioneer, to act as a pioneer; (in later use esp.) to explore or settle new territory. Also figurative.
ΚΠ
1800 Horatio of Holstein III. 116 The friends of all my disquietudes,—who have assisted me in pioneering through this earthly pilgrimage.
1837 New Monthly Mag. 51 199 The tutor..pushes him along the road, to pioneer for their common information.
1855 E. C. Gaskell North & South I. xv. 190 ‘We have a wide commercial character to maintain, which makes us into the great pioneers of civilisation.’ ‘It strikes me,’ said Mr. Hale, smiling, ‘that you might pioneer a little at home.’
1941 W. A. Percy Lanterns on Levee iv. 36 Though she could pioneer, she had neither admiration nor liking for the role.
1976 Ld. Home Way Wind Blows viii. 125 The white settlers who had pioneered in Southern Rhodesia had grown up through times of hardship.
1992 Beaver Aug. 12/2 They pioneered beside their parents, sharing the..constant, strenuous effort to build a living and a life.
2. transitive. To go before; to lead, guide, pilot; to prepare the way for (a person or thing). Now rare (colloquial in later use).
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the world > action or operation > prosperity > advancement or progress > [verb (transitive)] > take the lead in
pioneera1821
a1821 J. Keats Otho iv. ii, in R. M. Milnes Life, Lett. & Lit. Remains Keats (1848) II. 177 Or thro' the air thou pioneerest me.
a1834 S. T. Coleridge Specimens of Table Talk (1836) 261 High and passionate rhetoric, not introduced and pioneered by calm and clear logic.
1878 A. H. Markham Great Frozen Sea iv. 49 Our pilot, getting into his kayak, offered to pioneer us into a little bay.
1886 D. C. Murray First Person Sing. xvii. 132 She trusted to him to pioneer her about the deck.
1904 R. Kipling Traffics & Discov. in Wks. (1999) 239 In the ensuin' melly I pioneered him to the after-'atch.
1934 S. O'Casey Windfalls 154 You pioneered me into doing the two of them yourself.
3. transitive. To develop or be the first to use, apply, or undertake (a new method, area of knowledge, activity, etc.); to initiate, originate.In quot. 1879 merging with sense 2.
ΚΠ
1879 St. George's Hosp. Rep. 9 764 Those who have pioneered abdominal surgery to its present position.
1897 Daily News 10 July 4/3 My firm pioneered the nine hours movement in Scotland.
1912 Dict. National Biogr. 1901–11 I. 132/1 Lord Dundonald had pioneered the Leblanc soda process in this country.
1948 Sun (Baltimore) 20 Nov. 10/6 This school pioneered this policy in 1934.
1974 E. Pollard et al. Hedges (1977) iv. 53 Tull also pioneered the use of turnips and sainfoin as winter food for stock.
1992 Newsweek 11 May 64/1 Clement is one of 18 U.S. heart patients pioneering a treatment called enhanced external counterpulsation.
4. transitive. Ecology. Of an organism: to colonize (an unoccupied area). Also intransitive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > by habitat or distribution > inhabit or colonize [verb (transitive)]
lovea1398
affect1600
pioneer1939
the world > plants > by habitat or distribution > inhabit or colonize [verb (intransitive)] > colonize new territory
migrate1859
immigrate1889
colonize1924
pioneer1960
1939 H. H. Bennett Soil Conservation 418 Ragweed..pioneers idle fields.
1960 N. Polunin Introd. Plant Geogr. xi. 327 Hardy Mosses..sometimes pioneer on uncolonized rock surfaces.
1992 Nat. Hist. Jan. 75 Like the broadleaf maples, red alders can pioneer newly available areas but eventually give way to conifers as the forest matures.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1517v.1711