Cypress

Cypress - (Easton's Bible Dictionary)

(Heb. tirzah, "hardness"), mentioned only in Isa. 44:14 (R.V., "holm tree"). The oldest Latin version translates this word by ilex, i.e., the evergreen oak, which may possibly have been the tree intended; but there is great probability that our Authorized Version is correct in rendering it "cypress." This tree grows abundantly on the mountains of Hermon. Its wood is hard and fragrant, and very durable. Its foliage is dark and gloomy. It is an evergreen (Cupressus sempervirens). "Throughout the East it is used as a funereal tree; and its dark, tall, waving plumes render it peculiarly appropriate among the tombs."

Cypress - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

CYPRESS, n. [L., Gr.]

1. A genus of plants or trees. The most remarkable are the sempervirens or common cypress, the evergreen American cypress or white cedar, and the disticha or deciduous American cypress. The wood of these trees is remarkable for its durability. The coffins in which the Athenian heroes and the mummies of Egypt were deposited, are said to have been made of the first species.

2 The emblem of mourning for the dead, cypress branches having been anciently used at funerals.

Had success attended the Americans, the death of Warren would have been sufficient to damp the joys of victory, and the cypress would have been united with the laurel.