1. [N. Amer] Any of several trees of the genus Platanus having thin pale bark that scales off in small plates and lobed leaves and ball-shaped heads of fruits
   "The sycamore's distinctive bark made it easy to identify in the park";
   - plane tree, platan, plane
    
2. [UK] Large Eurasian maple tree with flaking grey bark and five-lobed leaves that turn yellow in autumn
   "The ancient sycamore's flaking bark created interesting patterns on its trunk";
   - great maple, Scottish maple, Acer pseudoplatanus, sycamore maple [N. Amer]
    
3. Thick-branched wide-spreading tree of Africa and adjacent southwestern Asia often buttressed with branches rising from near the ground; produces cluster of edible but inferior figs on short leafless twigs; the biblical sycamore
   "Zacchaeus climbed a sycamore to see Jesus pass by";
   - sycamore fig, mulberry fig, Ficus sycomorus
    
4. Variably coloured and sometimes variegated hard tough elastic wood of a sycamore tree
   "The furniture maker prized sycamore for its distinctive grain pattern";
   - lacewood

Derived forms: sycamores

Type of: fig tree, maple, tree, wood

Part of: Ficus, genus Ficus, genus Platanus, Platanus

Encyclopedia: Sycamore, OH