Ivory

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Ivory \I"vo*ry\ ([imac]"v[-o]*r[y^]), n.; pl. {Ivories}. [OE.
     ivori, F. ivoire, fr. L. eboreus made of ivory, fr. ebur,
     eboris, ivory, cf. Skr. ibha elephant. Cf. {Eburnean}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. The hard, white, opaque, fine-grained substance
        constituting the tusks of the elephant. It is a variety of


        dentine, characterized by the minuteness and close
        arrangement of the tubes, as also by their double flexure.
        It is used in manufacturing articles of ornament or
        utility.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: Ivory is the name commercially given not only to the
           substance constituting the tusks of the elephant, but
           also to that of the tusks of the hippopotamus and
           walrus, the hornlike tusk of the narwhal, etc.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     2. The tusks themselves of the elephant, etc.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Any carving executed in ivory. --Mollett.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. pl. Teeth; as, to show one's ivories. [Slang]
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Ivory black}. See under {Black}, n.
  
     {Ivory gull} (Zool.), a white Arctic gull ({Larus eburneus}).
        
  
     {Ivory nut} (Bot.), the nut of a species of palm, the
        {Phytephas macroarpa}, often as large as a hen's egg. When
        young the seed contains a fluid, which gradually hardness
        into a whitish, close-grained, albuminous substance,
        resembling the finest ivory in texture and color, whence
        it is called {vegetable ivory}. It is wrought into various
        articles, as buttons, chessmen, etc. The palm is found in
        New Grenada. A smaller kind is the fruit of the {Phytephas
        microarpa}. The nuts are known in commerce as Corosso
        nuts.
  
     {Ivory palm} (Bot.), the palm tree which produces ivory nuts.
        
  
     {Ivory shell} (Zool.), any species of {Eburna}, a genus of
        marine gastropod shells, having a smooth surface, usually
        white with red or brown spots.
  
     {Vegetable ivory}, the meat of the ivory nut. See {Ivory nut}
        (above).
        [1913 Webster] ivorybill

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  ivory
       n 1: a hard smooth ivory colored dentine that makes up most of
            the tusks of elephants and walruses [syn: {tusk}]
       2: a shade of white the color of bleached bones [syn: {bone}, {pearl},
           {off-white}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  53 Moby Thesaurus words for "ivory":
     alabaster, alabastrine, albescent, billiard table, bones,
     bowling alley, bowling green, chalk, cream, creamy, cubes, dice,
     driven snow, dun-white, eggshell, fair, flat, fleece, flour, foam,
     glass, glaucescent, glaucous, gray-white, ice, ivory-white, level,
     light, lily, lint-white, maggot, mahogany, marble, milk, off-white,
     pale, paper, pearl, pearly, pearly-white, plane, satin, sheet,
     silk, silver, slide, smooth, snow, swan, tennis court, velvet,
     whitish, whity
  
  

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Ivory
     (Heb. pl. shenhabbim, the "tusks of elephants") was early used
     in decorations by the Egyptians, and a great trade in it was
     carried on by the Assyrians (Ezek. 27:6; Rev. 18:12). It was
     used by the Phoenicians to ornament the box-wood rowing-benches
     of their galleys, and Hiram's skilled workmen made Solomon's
     throne of ivory (1 Kings 10:18). It was brought by the caravans
     of Dedan (Isa. 21:13), and from the East Indies by the navy of
     Tarshish (1 Kings 10:22). Many specimens of ancient Egyptian and
     Assyrian ivory-work have been preserved. The word _habbim_ is
     derived from the Sanscrit _ibhas_, meaning "elephant," preceded
     by the Hebrew article (ha); and hence it is argued that Ophir,
     from which it and the other articles mentioned in 1 Kings 10:22
     were brought, was in India.