from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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}.]
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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.
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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.
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2. The tusks themselves of the elephant, etc.
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3. Any carving executed in ivory. --Mollett.
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4. pl. Teeth; as, to show one's ivories. [Slang]
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{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
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Black \Black\, n.
1. That which is destitute of light or whiteness; the darkest
color, or rather a destitution of all color; as, a cloth
has a good black.
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Black is the badge of hell,
The hue of dungeons, and the suit of night. --Shak.
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2. A black pigment or dye.
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3. A negro; a person whose skin is of a black color, or
shaded with black; esp. a member or descendant of certain
African races.
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4. A black garment or dress; as, she wears black; pl. (Obs.)
Mourning garments of a black color; funereal drapery.
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Friends weeping, and blacks, and obsequies, and the
like show death terrible. --Bacon.
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That was the full time they used to wear blacks for
the death of their fathers. --Sir T.
North.
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5. The part of a thing which is distinguished from the rest
by being black.
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The black or sight of the eye. --Sir K.
Digby.
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6. A stain; a spot; a smooch.
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Defiling her white lawn of chastity with ugly blacks
of lust. --Rowley.
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{Black and white}, writing or print; as, I must have that
statement in black and white.
{Blue black}, a pigment of a blue black color.
{Ivory black}, a fine kind of animal charcoal prepared by
calcining ivory or bones. When ground it is the chief
ingredient of the ink used in copperplate printing.
{Berlin black}. See under {Berlin}.
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