PRIVET

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does privet mean? 

• PRIVET (noun)
  The noun PRIVET has 1 sense:

1. any of various Old World shrubs having smooth entire leaves and terminal panicles of small white flowers followed by small black berries; many used for hedges

  Familiarity information: PRIVET used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PRIVET (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of various Old World shrubs having smooth entire leaves and terminal panicles of small white flowers followed by small black berries; many used for hedges

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("privet" is a kind of...):

bush; shrub (a low woody perennial plant usually having several major stems)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "privet"):

Amur privet; Ligustrum amurense (eastern Asian shrub cultivated especially for its persistent foliage)

ibolium privet; ibota privet; Ligustrum ibolium (fast-growing and tightly branched hybrid of Ligustrum ovalifolium and Ligustrum obtusifolium)

Japanese privet; Ligustrum japonicum (evergreen shrub of Japan and Korea having small dark leaves and flowers in loose panicles; related to but smaller than Chinese privet)

Chinese privet; Ligustrum lucidum; white wax tree (erect evergreen treelike shrub of China and Korea and Japan having acuminate leaves and flowers in long erect panicles; resembles Japanese privet)

Ligustrum obtusifolium (small deciduous shrub having graceful arching branches and luxuriant foliage)

California privet; Ligustrum ovalifolium (semi-evergreen Japanese shrub having malodorous flowers; used extensively for hedges because more likely to stay green that common privet)

common privet; Ligustrum vulgare (deciduous semi-evergreen shrub used for hedges)

Holonyms ("privet" is a member of...):

genus Ligustrum; Ligustrum (genus of Old World shrubs: privet)

 Context examples 

Nothing was to be seen save that some body or bundle had been dragged through a low privet hedge which is in a line with the wood-pile.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)