Definition of "topiary" [top•i•a•ry]

• Of or characterized by the clipping or trimming of live shrubs or trees into decorative shapes, as of animals. (adjective)
• Topiary work or art. (noun)
• A topiary garden. (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.

• "In that sense, topiary is almost the opposite of arborsculpture in that you're only trimming the foliage, whereas in arborsculpture, you're only working with the trunk."
• "It features the new Bouquet Bunch stamp set from the Summer Mini and lining up the topiary was a cinch with the new clear mount stamps."
• "Topiary was originally defined as ornamental gardening, so you could say, to be technical, that arborsculpture is a branch of topiary, but the word topiary is more commonly used to describe the shaping of foliage."