ash2

noun

• 1 (also ash tree) a tree with compound leaves, winged fruits, and hard pale timber, widely distributed throughout north temperate regions.

  • Genus Fraxinus, family Oleaceae: many species, especially the common (or European) ash (F. excelsior)
• [mass noun] the hard pale wood of the ash tree.
• used in names of trees unrelated to the ash but with similar leaves, e.g. mountain ash.

• 2an Old English runic letter, ᚫ, a vowel intermediate between a and e. It is represented in the Roman alphabet by the symbol æ or Æ (see also Æ).

  [so named from the word of which it was the first letter]