Hanukkah bush n. a small tree decorated by some (secular) Jews at the time of the Jewish holiday Hanukkah, in imitation of the Yule or Christmas tree. Editorial Note: Alexander Tille in 1892 wrote in the article “German Christmas and the Christmas-Tree” in the journal Folklore (July 1892, vol. 3, no. 2, p. 170) that in Germany “the Christmas-tree has long since broken through the barrier of different creeds, and many Jewish families have adopted it to celebrate Yuletide.” (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Advice about college essays from the winner of a top prize for children’s literature: Kelly Barnhill encourages teens to write about experiences that are uniquely their own, from a point of view that is theirs and no one else’s. Plus, why do we say...
Susan from Virginia Beach, Virginia, shares the phrase her mother used when the kids refused to eat: It’ll grow hair on your back teeth. This supposed motivator likely blends two older traditions: a German idiom, Haare auf den Zähnen haben...
Chanukah is the correct spelling for the jewish holiday, get it right
No Anglophone dictionary-maker agrees with you about what is “correct.” Hannukah is the more common, most-often preferred form. Either one is a valid and acceptable transliteration of the Hebrew characters ×—× ×›×” or ×—× ×•×›×”.