olive

noun

• 1a small oval fruit with a hard stone and bitter flesh, green when unripe and bluish black when ripe, used as food and as a source of oil: a dish of cauliflower with black olives [as modifier]:a cucumber and olive salad

• 2 (also olive tree) the small evergreen tree which produces olives and which has narrow leaves with silvery undersides, native to warm regions of the Old World: [as modifier]:an olive grove

  • Olea europaea, family Oleaceae (the olive family). This family also includes the ash, lilac, jasmine, and privet
• used in names of other trees which are related to the olive, resemble it, or bear similar fruit, e.g. Russian olive.

• 3 (also olive green) [mass noun] a greyish-green colour like that of an unripe olive: shades of gold, olive, and black

• 4a slice of beef or veal made into a roll with stuffing inside and stewed.

• 5 (also olive shell) a marine mollusc with a smooth, roughly cylindrical shell which is typically brightly coloured.

  • Genus Oliva, family Olividae, class Gastropoda

• 6 Anatomy each of a pair of smooth, oval swellings in the medulla oblongata.

• 7a metal ring or fitting which is tightened under a threaded nut to form a seal, as in a compression joint.

adjective

• greyish-green:a small figure in olive fatigues
• (of the complexion) yellowish-brown; sallow: his full lips and olive skin