American arborvitae
noun
: an evergreen tree ( Thuja occidentalis) of eastern North America that has a conical or columnar form, reddish-brown bark, flattened branchlets in horizontal planes with closely attached scalelike leaves, and soft, decay-resistant wood and that has numerous ornamental cultivars
called also eastern arborvitae, eastern white cedar, swamp cedar, northern white cedar, white cedar, yellow cedar
compare oriental arborvitae
Word History
First Known Use
1785, in the meaning defined above