Ma"ple (?), n. [AS. mapolder,
mapulder, mapol; akin to Icel. möpurr; cf.
OHG. mazzaltra, mazzoltra, G. massholder.]
(Bot.) A tree of the genus Acer, including about
fifty species. A. saccharinum is the rock maple, or sugar
maple, from the sap of which sugar is made, in the United States, in
great quantities, by evaporation; the red or swamp maple is A.
rubrum; the silver maple, A. dasycarpum, having fruit
wooly when young; the striped maple, A. Pennsylvanium, called
also moosewood. The common maple of Europe is A.
campestre, the sycamore maple is A. Pseudo-platanus, and
the Norway maple is A. platanoides.
☞ Maple is much used adjectively, or as the first part
of a compound; as, maple tree, maple leaf, etc.
Bird's-eye maple, Curled
maple, varieties of the wood of the rock maple, in
which a beautiful lustrous grain is produced by the sinuous course of
the fibers. -- Maple honey, Maple
molasses, or Maple sirup, maple sap
boiled to the consistency of molasses. -- Maple
sugar, sugar obtained from the sap of the sugar maple
by evaporation.