From another form of the base of xestes; timber (as fuel or material); by implication, a stick, club or tree or other wooden article or substance -- staff, stocks, tree, wood.
see GREEK xestes
1. wood: universally, 1 Corinthians 3:12; ξύλον θύϊνον, Revelation 18:12; that which is made of wood, as a beam from which anyone is suspended, a gibbet, a cross (A. V. tree, which see in B. D. American edition), Acts 5:30; Acts 10:39; Acts 13:29; Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 2:24 (עֵץ, Genesis 40:19; Deuteronomy 21:23; Joshua 10:26; Esther 5:14) — a use not found in the classics (cf. Liddell and Scott, under II. 4). A log or timber with holes in which the feet, bands, neck, of prisoners were inserted and fastened with thongs (Gr. καλόν, ξυλοπεδη, ποδοκάκη, ποδοστράβη, Latinnervus, by which the Latin renders the Hebrew סַד, a fetter, or shackle for the feet, Job (Job 13:27); 2. a tree: Luke 23:31 (Genesis 1:29; Genesis 2:9; Genesis 3:1; Isaiah 14:8, etc.); ξυλος τῆς ζωῆς, see ζωή, 2 b., p. 274{a}.