Other forms: pinecones
A pinecone is the woody seed case of a conifer. Collect pinecones, a pinecone opened, throw a pinecone.
It opens in dry weather to release the seeds and closes when damp, which is why one on a windowsill works as a rough hygrometer. Some species need fire to open at all, and their forests depend on burning to regenerate.
1nounpineconeThe woody seed case of a conifer.
“The children collected pinecones in the forest to decorate the Christmas table.”
pinecone is a seed case.
Pine plus cone. Cone comes from Greek konos, a pine cone or a geometric cone.
From pine + cone.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA