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Ivory   /ˈaɪvəri/  /ˈaɪvri/   Listen
noun
Ivory  n.  (pl. ivories)  
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. 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.
2.
The tusks themselves of the elephant, etc.
3.
Any carving executed in ivory.
4.
pl. Teeth; as, to show one's ivories. (Slang)
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).






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Ivory" Quotes from Famous Books



... and loudly crashing its mainsheet gear along the traveller. Half a dozen times, as it swooped overhead, Jerry leaped for it, mouth open to grip, lips writhed clear of the clean puppy teeth that shone in the sun like gems of ivory. ...
— Jerry of the Islands • Jack London

... every of hem a Degree lowere than other, as thei ben of estate. And the emperour hathe his table allone be him self, that is of gold, and of precious stones, or of cristalle, bordured with gold, and fulle of precious stones or of amatystes or of lignum aloes, that comethe out of paradys, or of ivory, bounden or bordured with gold. And everyche of his wyfes hathe also hire table be hire self. And his eldest sone, and the other lordes also, and the ladyes, and alle that sitten with the emperour, han tables allone be hem self, fulle riche. And there nys ...
— The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries - of the English Nation. v. 8 - Asia, Part I. • Richard Hakluyt

... in ancient times employed for writing, as Skins, Ivory, Lead, &c. In Egypt, from a very remote period, the inner films pressed together of the Papyrus or Biblos, a sort of Flag, or Bulrush, growing in the marshes there. From whence the word ...
— The Author's Printing and Publishing Assistant • Frederick Saunders

... district, the latter the southern. The former have longish heads, long narrow faces, and small reddish eyes set close together, whilst the latter have round faces and open foreheads, gazelle-like eyes, set far apart, and rich yellow ivory complexion. Their bodies are covered with stiffish grey short hair. Two further quotations from the same source may be given to convey an idea to those ignorant of the original work, if such there be, of the appearances of these dwarfs. Speaking of the queen of a tribe ...
— A Philological Essay Concerning the Pygmies of the Ancients • Edward Tyson

... — N. whiteness &c adj.; argent. albification^, etiolation; lactescence^. snow, paper, chalk, milk, lily, ivory, alabaster; albata^, eburin^, German silver, white metal, barium sulphate [Chem], titanium oxide, blanc fixe [Fr.], ceruse^, pearl white; white lead, carbonate of lead. V. be white &c adj.. render white &c adj.; whiten, ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget


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