espalier en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
- (US) audio
- /ɪˈspæl.jɚ/ (US)
- /-ˈpæl.i.eɪ/ (UK)
- /-jeɪ/ (US)
- /ɛs-/ (UK)
- /ɛsˈpæl-/ (US)
- /ɪˈspalɪə/ (UK)
Etymology
Borrowed from French espalier, from Italian spalliera, from spalla (“shoulder”).
Meanings
-
A latticework used to shape or train the branches of a tree or shrub into a two-dimensional ornamental or useful design, as along a wall or fence.
The garment stalls carried the traditional blue vine-dressers' outfits, sunhats, and the great willow pitchforks grown in espalier at villages like Sauve.
1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 223:
-
A plant that has been shaped in this manner.
It is on this rocky surface that one finds many of the growth forms associated with extreme life conditions: polsters, mat plants, espaliers.
1915 April, F. J. Smiley, “The alpine and subapline vegetation of the Lake Tahoe region”, in Botanical Gazette, volume 59, page 265:
-
A row of plants that have been shaped in this manner.
Often some night-animal, hedgehog or weasel, setting out on the hunt, disturbed the lovers, or sometimes they heard a ripe peach falling all alone from the espalier.
1886, Gustave Flaubert, chapter XII, in Eleanor Marx-Aveling, transl., Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners […], London: Vizetelly & Co., […], →OCLC, part II, page 218:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| espaliers | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Translations (6)
ca espatllera (latticework used to shape or train the branches of a tree or shrub into a two-dimensional ornamental or useful design, as along a wall or fence) · pl szpaler (row of plants that have been shaped in this manner) · pl treliaż (latticework used to shape or train the branches of a tree or shrub into a two-dimensional ornamental or useful design, as along a wall or fence) · pl trejaż (latticework used to shape or train the branches of a tree or shrub into a two-dimensional ornamental or useful design, as along a wall or fence) · bg жив плет (latticework used to shape or train the branches of a tree or shrub into a two-dimensional ornamental or useful design, as along a wall or fence) · bg жив плет (row of plants that have been shaped in this manner)