Definition of "rowan" [row•an]

• A small deciduous European tree (Sorbus aucuparia) of the rose family, having pinnately compound leaves, corymbs of white flowers, and orange-red berries. (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.

• "Apparently, 'rowan' is simply a somewhat dated synonym of 'mountain ash'."
• "She started to reach for it and thought better of it, pulling one of her Lucite "rowan" stakes from its sheath on her boot to poke the dead monster's chest with."
• "In Sweden and Norway, also, magical properties are ascribed to a “flying-rowan” (flögrönn), that is to a rowan which is found growing not in the ordinary fashion on the ground but on another tree, or on a roof, or in a cleft of the rock, where it has sprouted from seed scattered by birds."