The Collaborative International Dictionary
Thuja \Thu"ja\, n. [NL., from Gr. ? an African tree with sweet-smelling wood.] (Bot.) A genus of evergreen trees, thickly branched, remarkable for the distichous arrangement of their branches, and having scalelike, closely imbricated, or compressed leaves. [Written also thuya.] See Thyine wood.
Note: Thuja occidentalis is the Arbor vit[ae] of the Eastern and Northern United States. Thuja gigantea of North-waetern America is a very large tree, there called red cedar, and canoe cedar, and furnishes a useful timber.
thuja oilcedar leaf oil.
Arbor vitae \Ar"bor vi"t[ae]\ [L., tree of life.]
(Bot.) An evergreen tree of the cypress tribe, genus Thuja. The American species is the Thuja occidentalis.
(Anat.) The treelike disposition of the gray and white nerve tissues in the cerebellum, as seen in a vertical section.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
type of evergreen shrub, 1660s, name given by French physician and botanist Charles de Lécluse (1525-1609), Latin, literally "tree of life." Also used in late 18c. rogue's slang as a cant word for "penis."
Wiktionary
n. 1 Any of the evergreen trees and shrubs known as arborvitae, of the genera ''Thuja'' and (taxlink Thujopsis genus noshow=1), or of the species (taxlink Platycladus orientalis species noshow=1). 2 (context anatomy English) White matter of the cerebellum.
Wikipedia
Arbor vitae may refer to:
The arbor vitae ( Latin for " tree of life") is the cerebellar white matter, so called for its branched, tree-like appearance. In some ways it more resembles a fern and is present in both cerebellar hemispheres. It brings sensory and motor information to and from the cerebellum. The arbor vitae is located deep in the cerebellum. Situated within the arbor vitae are the deep cerebellar nuclei; the dentate, globose, emboliform and the fastigial nuclei. These four different structures lead to the efferent projections of the cerebellum.
The arbor vitae is subject to pathologies such as a cerebellar hemorrhage. Cerebellar hemorrhages arise from tumors, trauma and arteriovenous malformations among other things. The cells in the arbor vitae could also be infected by pathogens which might cause lasting damage, this in turn could lead to cerebellar ataxia.
Usage examples of "arbor vitae".
On these poles, which were connected by small transverse bars of wood, was laid a covering of white cedar, or arbor vitæ, kept on by strands of cedar fibres.
RED CEDAR OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, the Giant Arbor Vitae, is next to the Douglas Fir in importance in British Columbia, where it attains its greatest height of 100 feet.
Hannah was watching him go, and she saw him go into the shadow of a tall, neatly trimmed arbor vitae, then wondered why he was there so long.
An extensive planting of arbor vitae along the driveway effectively concealed the mansion.
Evergreen cedars, arbor vitae, and scruffy red pines lined the hillside.
The arbor vitae would paw at the windows, the bare birch branches would scratch at the eaves.