ivory

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“
As the horns of deer vary in different localities, so the ivory is also larger and of superior quality in certain districts.

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Definitions (28)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (11)

  1. noun A hard, smooth, yellowish-white substance composed primarily of dentin that forms the tusks of the elephant.
  2. noun A similar substance forming the tusks or teeth of certain other mammals, such as the walrus.
  3. noun A tusk, especially an elephant's tusk.
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Examples (50)

  • I have likewise another gift for you: take this horn of ivory, and when you are in great straits, and will blow it, however far I may be, I will come to you, and will bring with me a great company to lend you aid. —  The Red Romance Book
  • There were birds of sweet song and beautiful plumage--ivory-bills, red-birds, and mocking-birds, green paroquets, and many others of the woodpecker tribe--filling the forest with their various notes We now felt sure that we were approaching the river; but again a faintness came over me, and I doubted very much whether I should reach it. —  In the Wilds of Florida A Tale of Warfare and Hunting
  • The fairness of youth had faded in her into a soft ivory, her hair was a yellow wisp tightly coiled, and her mouth drooped in a meagre discontent. —  Country Neighbors
  • The 'Delight' was tipped with hard ivory (a piece of walrus tusk carved into proper shape with the jack-knife), and 'Crumply' was of the very best kind of ivory throughout, yet we could not sharpen either of them so as to be of much use. —  Cast Away in the Cold An Old Man's Story of a Young Man's Adventures, as Related by Captain John Hardy, Mariner
  • Her skin was whiter than ivory--a clear, luminous white. —  The Return Of The Soul 1896
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

bronze ·  silver ·  marble ·  ebony ·  porcelain ·  jade ·  golden ·  pearl ·  plastic ·  gild ·  amber ·  leather
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English ivorie, from Old French ivoire, ivurie, from Latin eboreus, of ivory, from ebur, ebor-, ivory, from Coptic ebou, elephant, from Egyptian 'bw.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Early modern English also ivorie; from Middle English ivory, ivorie, yvory, yvorie, evorye, also ivore, yvore, ivoure, ivere, yvere, yver, evour, from Old French ivurie, *ivorie, later ivoire, French ivoire = Provencal evori, avori, bori = Italian avorio, avoro, from Middle Latin eboreum, ivory, properly neuter of Latin eboreus, of ivory, from ebur, ivory: see ebunine.
  2. Named for James Ivory (1765–1842), who published a celebrated memoir on the attractions of homogeneous ellipsoids in 1809.
 

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/ˈaɪvəri/
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