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any shrub or tree belonging to the genus Alnus, of the birch family, growing in moist places in northern temperate or colder regions and having toothed, simple leaves and flowers in catkins.
any of various trees or shrubs resembling an alder.
Kurt [kurt;; German koo rt] /kɜrt;; German kʊərt/ (Show IPA), 1902–58, German chemist: Nobel Prize 1950.
Contemporary Examples

Salmon, tuna, sturgeon, mussels, oysters, and sable are marinated and smoked using hickory and alder wood.
Become a Fried Seafood Believer at South Beach Market Jane & Michael Stern April 19, 2014

Historical Examples

She led the way silently until they reached a thick copse of birch and alder near the strand.
Tales From Two Hemispheres Hjalmar Hjorth Boysen

When the pail was full, Mr. alder poured some into a shiny can, and took the rest to the dairy.
Clematis Bertha B. Cobb

There was an alder, ivy-grown, beside the stream—a tree with those lines which take an artist’s fancy.
Field and Hedgerow Richard Jefferies

Mrs. alder took a lamp as she spoke, and led the little visitor to the stairs.
Clematis Bertha B. Cobb

He had pitched his camp at the edge of a thicket of alder and aspen near a narrow stream of water in a big arroyo.
Square Deal Sanderson Charles Alden Seltzer

Mrs. alder gave her a cookie for her pay, and said she had done very well.
Clematis Bertha B. Cobb

When they had gone about a mile, they found a spot where the river had set back over the bank, freezing in some alder bushes.
Shaggycoat Clarence Hawkes

She helped Mrs. alder too, for she went on errands to the village every time she was asked.
Clematis Bertha B. Cobb

Mr. alder told him who she was, while Clematis was looking at the neat little cottage.
Clematis Bertha B. Cobb

noun
any N temperate betulaceous shrub or tree of the genus Alnus, having toothed leaves and conelike fruits. The bark is used in dyeing and tanning and the wood for bridges, etc because it resists underwater rot
any of several similar trees or shrubs
n.

tree related to the birch, Old English alor “alder” (with intrusive -d- added 14c.; the historical form aller survived until 18c. in literary English and persists in dialects, e.g. Lancashire owler, which is partly from Norse), from Proto-Germanic *aliso (cf. Old Norse ölr, Danish elle, Swedish al, Dutch els, German erle), from *el-, the ancient PIE name of the tree (cf. Russian olicha, Polish olcha, Latin alnus, Lithuanian alksnis).

Alder Al·der (äl’dər), Kurt. 1902-1958.

German chemist. He shared a 1950 Nobel Prize for discoveries concerning the structure of organic matter.