alder

noun

1. Any of several trees or shrubs of the genus Alnus, belonging to the birch family.

   “I’ve known ere now an interfering branch / Of alder catch my lifted axe behind me. / But that was in the woods, to hold my hand / From striking at another alder’s roots, / And that was, as I say, an alder branch.”

   “Have a tree or two the witches particularly like, such as the alder, larch, cypress and hemlock; then, to counteract any possible evil effects, there must be a holly, yew, hazel, elder, mountain ash or juniper.”

   “That's what the tiercel was doing when I found him again in the alder.”

2. An alderman or alderwoman.

   “Almost immediately, city alders contacted the campaign to negotiate an ordinance.”

   “Chicago's mayor Edward Kennelly, the city alders, and many white Chicagoans opposed this siting plan.”

   “After three years as Ward 1 alder, Sarah Eidelson ’12 will leave city government at the end of the year.”

name

1. A topographic surname from Middle English for someone who lived by alder trees.