cypress

noun

• (also cypress tree) an evergreen coniferous tree with small rounded woody cones and flattened shoots bearing small scale-like leaves.

  • Cupressus, Chamaecyparis, and other genera, family Cupressaceae: many species, including the columnar Italian cypress (Cupressus sempervirens), common throughout southern Europe.
• a cypress tree, or branches from it, as a symbol of mourning.
• used in names of coniferous trees of other families that resemble the cypress, e.g. swamp cypress.