'Arbor vitae' definitions:

Definition of 'Arbor vitae'

From: GCIDE
  • Thuja \Thu"ja\ (th[=u]"j[.a]), n. [NL., from Gr. qyi`a an African tree with sweet-smelling wood.] (Bot.) A genus of evergreen trees, thickly branched, remarkable for the distichous arrangement of their branches, and having scalelike, closely imbricated, or compressed leaves. [Written also thuya.] See Thyine wood. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: Thuja occidentalis is the Arbor vitae of the Eastern and Northern United States. Thuja gigantea of North-western America is a very large tree, there called red cedar, and canoe cedar, and furnishes a useful timber. [1913 Webster]