hazel Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun Australian tree grown especially for ornament and its fine-grained wood and bearing edible nuts
    hazel tree; Pomaderris apetala.
  2. noun the fine-grained wood of a hazelnut tree (genus Corylus) and the hazel tree (Australian genus Pomaderris)
  3. noun any of several shrubs or small trees of the genus Corylus bearing edible nuts enclosed in a leafy husk
    hazelnut tree; hazelnut.
  4. noun a shade of brown that is yellowish or reddish; it is a greenish shade of brown when used to describe the color of someone's eyes
  5. adjective satellite of a light brown or yellowish brown color

WordNet

Ha"zel noun
Etymology
OE. hasel, AS. hæsel; akin to D. hazelaar, G. hazel, OHG. hasal, hasala, Icel. hasl, Dan & Sw. hassel, L. corylus, for cosylus.
Definitions
  1. (Bot.) A shrub or small tree of the genus Corylus, as the C. avellana, bearing a nut containing a kernel of a mild, farinaceous taste; the filbert. The American species are C. Americana, which produces the common hazelnut, and C. rostrata. See Filbert. Gray.
  2. A miner's name for freestone. Raymond.
Ha"zel adjective
Definitions
  1. Consisting of hazels, or of the wood of the hazel; pertaining to, or derived from, the hazel; as, a hazel wand.
    I sit me down beside the hazel grove. Keble.
  2. Of a light brown color, like the hazelnut. "Thou hast hazel eyes." Shak.

Webster 1913