IVORY -
n. (pl. -ies)
1 a hard creamy-white substance composing the main part of the tusks of an elephant, hippopotamus,
walrus, and narwhal.
2 the colour of this.
3 (usu. in pl.) a an article made of
ivory. b sl. anything made of or resembling
ivory, esp. a piano key or a tooth.
fossil ivory ivory from the tusks of a mammoth. ivory black black pigment from calcined ivory or bone. ivory-nut the seed of a corozo palm, Phytelephas macrocarpa, used as a source of vegetable ivory for carving: also called corozo-nut. ivory tower a state of seclusion or separation from the ordinary world and the harsh realities of life. vegetable ivory a hard white material obtained from the endosperm of the ivory-nut.
ivoried adj. [ME f. OF yvoire ult. f. L ebur eboris]
