alder

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Any of several trees or shrubs of the genus Alnus, belonging to the birch family.

   • I’ve known ere now an interfering branch / Of alder catch my lifted axe behind me. / But that was in the woods, to hold my hand / From striking at another alder’s roots, / And that was, as I say, an alder branch.
   • Have a tree or two the witches particularly like, such as the alder, larch, cypress and hemlock; then, to counteract any possible evil effects, there must be a holly, yew, hazel, elder, mountain ash or juniper.
   • That's what the tiercel was doing when I found him again in the alder.
2. 2

   An alderman or alderwoman.

   • Almost immediately, city alders contacted the campaign to negotiate an ordinance.
   • Chicago's mayor Edward Kennelly, the city alders, and many white Chicagoans opposed this siting plan.
   • After three years as Ward 1 alder, Sarah Eidelson ’12 will leave city government at the end of the year.
3. 3

   A topographic surname from Middle English for someone who lived by alder trees.

The neighborhood