Ivy is also an overplanted little feature in the landscape of the US, as are so many other plants. Most of the ivy along the west coast of the US is english ivy, Hedera helix, another unrelated type of 'ivy' in the grape family covers many of those 'ivy league' schools. Ivy can be good for covering a large area with vegetation quickly, but beware. Once you plant it it will never leave. Don't plant it near a tree you like, it will smother the tree quickly and kill it. Dont plant it near a small fence, it will grow so heavily on the fence it will knock it over. Dont plant it near your house, unless you want pieces of the wall ripped off. Dont plant it near kids, if they eat it they will probably get sick since its poisonous. Dont plant it in places where you dont want rats to thrive. If you live in a moist, mild natural setting dont plant it at all, it will escape and cover up whatever was growing there in the first place.

"Ivy" is a shortened form of the term Ivy League, usually used in the plural ("the Ivys" or "the Ivies") to refer to the group of Ivy League universities. Often used in the context of intercollegiate sports, as can be seen in the examples below. Pretentious alumni will often ask questions like "Which Ivy did you attend?" and then scoff if you answer Penn or Brown, or worse yet, a non-Ivy like Bucknell.

Some useage examples from The Daily Pennsylvanian:

"Penn finished with its first winning season since 1996, but slid against Ivy teams."

"It's obviously disappointing to win only one match in the Ivies and have that one be against the weakest team."

Loungeish pop band out of New York. Consisting of front woman Dominique Durand Chris Collingwood of Fountains of Wayne fame. Aswell as ten million other talented people including James Iha from time to time. Have made three albums to date although the third does not becom available 'till July 10 state side.



Albums to date:
1995 -- Realistic
1997 -- Apartment Life
2001 -- Long Distance

I"vy (?), n.; pl. Ivies (#). [AS. ifig; akin to OHG. ebawi, ebah, G. epheu.] (Bot.)

A plant of the genus Hedera (H. helix), common in Europe. Its leaves are evergreen, dark, smooth, shining, and mostly five-pointed; the flowers yellowish and small; the berries black or yellow. The stem clings to walls and trees by rootlike fibers.

Direct The clasping ivy where to climb. Milton.

Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sere. Milton.

American ivy. Bot. See Virginia creeper. -- English ivy Bot., a popular name in America for the ivy proper (Hedera helix). -- German ivy Bot., a creeping plant, with smooth, succulent stems, and fleshy, light-green leaves; a species of Senecio (S. scandens). -- Ground ivy. Bot. Gill (Nepeta Glechoma). -- Ivy bush. Bot. See Mountain laurel, under Mountain. -- Ivy owl Zool., the barn owl. -- Ivy tod Bot., the ivy plant. Tennyson. -- Japanese ivy Bot., a climbing plant (Ampelopsis tricuspidata), closely related to the Virginia creeper. -- Poison ivy Bot., an American woody creeper (Rhus Toxicodendron), with trifoliate leaves, and greenish-white berries. It is exceedingly poisonous to the touch for most persons. -- To pipe in an ivy leaf, to console one's self as best one can. [Obs.] Chaucer. -- West Indian ivy, a climbing plant of the genus Marcgravia.

 

© Webster 1913.

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