Definition of "ivy" []

• Any of several woody, climbing or trailing evergreen plants of the genus Hedera native to the Old World, especially H. helix, having palmately lobed leaves, root-bearing young stems, and small green flowers grouped in umbels. (noun)
• Informal A university in the Ivy League. Often used in the plural: Cornell is one of the Ivies. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Settle, then, which -- plant or ivy -- Dickens supposed the reader to know least about, and which, therefore, Dickens was telling him about; and you settle which word -- _plant_ or _ivy_ -- is the subject."
• "Poison ivy is rarely desirable, but the orange-red leaves of this woody-stemmed vine are quite ornamental."
• "Both the poison ivy and the Virginia creeper are native to eastern North America, but the English ivy is a native of Europe that is now naturalized in many parts of the U.S."