Quick Definition
ξύλον, ου, τό n.n. a staff, cross, anything made of wood
Strong's Definition
from another form of the base of 3582; timber (as fuel or material); by implication, a stick, club or tree or other wooden article or substance
KJV Usage: staff, stocks, tree, wood
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament
noun, n. | -ου | ξύλινος
3.60 · Plants · Wood and Wood Products
wood wood as a substance A number of languages make a clear distinction between wood as a substance used in artifacts and constructions and wood used for heating or cooking. A further distinction may be made between durable wood (not readily subject to rot or to the effects of termites and borers) and less durable and therefore relatively unsatisfactory wood.
3.61 · Plants · Wood and Wood Products
firewood wood as a substance used to burn for heat ξύλον in LUK 23:31 may also be interpreted as a live green tree (see 3.4). If one assumes that the meaning here is ‘firewood,’ then it may be necessary to translate ‘wood which has not had an opportunity to dry out’ or ‘wood which is still green’ or ‘... which is still wet with sap.’
3.4 · Plants · Trees
tree large perennial plant, usually having a woody central stem, called a trunk, with secondary branches growing from it It is also possible to understand ξύλον in LUK 23:31 as ‘firewood.’ One may therefore translate the first part of this conditional sentence as ‘if they do these things to firewood which has recently been cut’ or ‘if they do these things to firewood which hasn’t dried out’ (see 3.61).
In REV 2:7 and REV 22:2 ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς ‘tree of life’ may cause certain complications if the passage is translated more or less literally ‘I will give him to eat of the tree of life.’ In some languages a literal rendering would mean ‘to gnaw on the tree of life,’ that is to say, to eat the wood or the bark. It may therefore be necessary to translate ‘to eat the fruit of the tree of life’ or ‘... the fruit from the tree that causes life’ or ‘... causes people to live.’
LUK 23:31 · GAL 3:13 · REV 2:7 · REV 22:2 · REV 22:2 · REV 22:14 · REV 22:19
6.31 · Artifacts · Weapons and Armor
club a heavy stick used in fighting
6.21 · Artifacts · Instruments Used in Binding and Fastening
stocks an instrument consisting of heavy blocks of wood through which the legs were placed and then securely fastened Stocks were employed primarily as an instrument for imprisonment, but also as a means of punishment.
6.28 · Artifacts · Instruments Used in Punishment and Execution
cross (a figurative extension of meaning of ξύλον[a] ‘wood,’ 3.60) an instrument of execution Outside the NT ξύλον[f] often refers to a gallows, but in the NT contexts speaking of capital punishment, the reference is to the cross on which Jesus was crucified.
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament © United Bible Societies, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
ξύλον, -ου, τό, (fr. ξύω to scrape, plane), fr. Hom. down; Sept. for 315 1. wood: univ. 1 Co. iii. 12; &. Avivo, Rey. xviii. 12; that which is made of wood, as a beam from which any one is suspended, a gibbet, a cross, [A. V. tree, 4- v- in B.D. Am. ed.], Acts v. 30; x. 89; xiii. 29; Gal. iii. 13; 1 Pet. ii 24, (yy, Gen. xl. 19; Deut. xxi. 23; Josh. x. 26; Esth. v. 14), —a use not found in the classics [ef. L. and S. s. v. II. 4]. A log or timber with holes in which the feet, hands, neck, of prisoners were inserted and fastened with thongs (Gr. κᾶλον, ξυλοπέδη, ποδοκάκη, ποδοστράβη, Lat. nervus, by which the Lat. renders the Ilebr. 10, a fetter, or shackle for the feet, Job [xiii. 27] ; xxxiii. 11; ef. Fischer, De vitiis lexx. N. T. p. 458 sqq.; [B. D. s. v. Stocks]): Acts xvi. 24 (Hdt. 6, 75; 9, 37; Arstph. eq. 367, 394, 705); a cudgel, stick, staff: plur., Mt. xxvi. 47, 55; Mk. xiv. 43, 48; Lk. xxii. 52, (Hdt. 2,633; 4,180; Dem. p. 645,15; Polyb. 6, 37,3; Joseph. b. j. 2, 9,4; Hdian. 7, 7, 4). 2. a tree: Lk. xxiil. 31 (Gen. i. 29; 11. 9; iii 15 Is. xiv. 8,ete.); & τῆς ζωῆς, see ζωή, 2 b. p. 214". [ξύν, older form of σύν, retained occasionally in compounds, as ξυμβαίνω, 1 Pet. iv. 12 ed. Bezae ; see Meisterhans § 49, 11; L. and S. 8. v. σύν, init.; and ef. 3, a, s.]
Mounce Concise Greek Dictionary
χύλον xylon 20x
wood, timber, 1 Cor. 3:12; Rev. 18:12; stocks, Acts 16:24; a club, Mt. 26:47, 55; a post, cross, gibbet, Acts 5:30; 10:29; 13:29; a tree, Lk. 23:31; Rev. 2:7
Abbott-Smith Greek Lexicon
ξύλον, -ου, τό,
[in LXX chiefly for עֵץ;]
wood: I Co 3:12, Re 18:12.
a piece of wood, hence, anything made of wood, as, a cudgel, staff: pl., Mt 26:47, 55, Mk 14:43, 48, Lk 22:52;
stocks, for confining the feet (Jb 33:11, סַד): Ac 16:24;
a beam to which malefactors were bound (late Gk.), in LXX, of a gibbet (De 21:22, 23), in NT, of the Cross: Ac 5:30 10:39 13:29, Ga 3:13, I Pe 2:24.
In late writers (v. MM, xvii), a tree (Ge 1:29, Is 14:8, al.): Lk 23:31; ξ. τῆς ζωῆς, Re 2:7 22:2, 14, 19.†
Moulton & Milligan — Vocabulary of the Greek NT
ξύλον γέμ[υἸσὸν αὐτὰ (τὰ κτήνη) βάκανον καὶ ξύλον, ‘‘load them (the animals) with cabbage and wood,” P Giss I. 67° (ii/A.D.) ξενικῶν ξύλων, ‘‘wood imported from abroad,” P Tebt 11. 3042 (A.D. 167-8) peta ξύλων ἰσπηδῆσαι, ‘to rush in with staves,” P Oxy I. 69% (A.D. 190) tows προσἐρείσαντας τῷ τόπῳ ξύλον, *‘ probably using a log of wood as a battering-ram” (Edd.), 26. XIV. 17388 (iii/a.p.) ξύλα . σώματα, ‘logs,” and P Ryl II. 236" (a.p. 256) ἀνερχόμενα δὲ ξύλα ἀνακομισάτω els τὴν οἰκίαν τοῦ εὐσχήμονος, ‘and when they (a team of four donkeys) come, let them bring up timber to the magistrate’s house” (Edd.). Reference may also be made to the law of astynomy at Pergamum, OG/S 483181 (time of Trajan) μαστειγωθεὶς δὲ ἐν τῶι κύφωνι πληγαῖς ἑκατὸν δεδέσθω ἐν τῶι ξύλωι ἡμέρας δέκα, with the editor’s note. For ξύλον, “‘a measure of length,” = 3 cubits cf. P Ryl 11. 64%3(iv/v a.p.), the introd. to P Oxy VII. 1053 (vi/vii A.D.), and Archiv iii. p. 439, and for the verb Evpaw EvAopetpew see BGU I. 1227 (a.p. 181-2) γ]εωμετροῦντος kal ξυλομετροῦντος. Other exx. of the diminutive ξυλάριον are P Oxy X. 129217 (c. a.D. 30), BGU IIT. 8445 (a.p. 83). In P Tebt 11. 316%° (A.D. 99) οἰκῶ δὲ ἐν τῷ ἐκτὸς τῆ (/. τῆς) ξυληρᾶ (1 —as?) the editors think the reference is probably to the ‘‘ wood-market.” MGr ξύλο, ““ wood.” Evoaw. In 1 Cor 11° most editors accentuate ξυρᾶσθαι pres. mid. “to go shaven,” but in view of the immediately preceding aor. κείρασθαι, it is probably better to read ξύρασθαι, aor. mid. of ξύρω, a form found in Plutarch (see Veitch s.v.) : cf. WH Wotes?, p. 172, Moulton Gy. ii. p. 200f. For ξυρητής (not in LS), ‘‘one who shaves,” see BGU II. 630" 19 (c. A.D. 200): ξύρησις, “baldness,’’ is found in Isai 2215. MGr ξ(ο)υρίζω. O ε ε , c e , O, ἢ. TO——O, ἢ TO
Liddell-Scott-Jones — Greek-English Lexicon
ξύλον (xulon) — wood. ξύλον [ῠ], τό (plural spelt ξύλεα [Refs 5th c.BC+], wood cut and ready for use, firewood, timber, etc., [Refs 8th c.BC+], mostly in plural, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ξ. νήϊα ship-timber, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ξ. τετράγωνα logs cut square, [Refs 5th c.BC+]
2. in plural, also, the wood-market, ἐπὶ ξύλα ἰέναι [Refs 5th c.BC+]
II. in singular, piece of wood, log, beam, post, once in [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ξ. σύκινον spoon made of fig wood, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; peg or lever, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; perch, ἐπὶ ξύλου καθεύδειν [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἵπποιο κακὸν ξ., of the Trojan horse, [Refs 6th c.AD+]
II.2. cudgel, club, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; μετὰ ξύλων εἰσπηδῆσαι [Refs 2nd c.AD+]; ξύλοις συντρίψειν [Refs 2nd c.AD+]; of the club of Heracles, [Refs 1st c.AD+]
II.3. an instrument of punishment,
II.3. a wooden collar, put on the neck of the prisoner, ξύλῳ φιμοῦν τὸν αὐχένα [Refs 5th c.BC+]; or,
II.3. b stocks, in which the feet were confined, [NT+5th c.BC+]: also in plural, ἔδησεν ἐν τοῖς ξ. [Refs 5th c.BC+]
II.3. c πεντεσύριγγον ξύλον (see. entry) was a combination of both, with holes for the neck, arms, and legs, [Refs 5th c.BC+]
II.3. d gallows, κρεμάσαι τινὰ ἐπὶ ξύλου [LXX]; ξ. δίδυμον[LXX] i.e. if one must be hanged, at least let it be on a noble tree, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; in NT, of the cross, [NT]
II.3. e stake on which criminals were impaled, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]
II.4. bench, table, especially money-changer's table, [Refs 4th c.BC+]
II.5. πρῶτον ξύλον front bench in the Athenian theatre, [Refs 5th c.BC+] the official who had to take care of the seats, [Refs 5th c.BC+]
II.6. the Hippocratic bench, [Refs 5th c.BC+]
III. of live wood, tree, [ὄρος] δασὺ πολλοῖς καὶ παντοδαποῖς καὶ μεγάλοις ξύλοις [LXX+5th c.BC+]; εἴρια ἀπὸ ξύλου, of cotton, [Refs 5th c.BC+]
IV. of persons, blockhead, [Refs]; of a stubborn person, σίδηρός τις ἢ ξ. πρὸς τὰς δεήσεις [Refs 3rd c.AD+]
V. a measure oflength, = 3 (also 2 2/3) cubits, the side of the ναύβιον, [Refs 2nd c.BC+] “*Geometry texts” 23.4,11, [Refs 3rd c.AD+]