Log in or Sign up

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Any of several tropical Asian trees of the genus Santalum, especially S. album, having aromatic yellowish heartwood used in cabinetmaking and wood carving and yielding an oil used in perfumery.
  2. n. Any of several tropical Asian trees of the genera Adenanthera, Myroporum, and Pterocarpus.
  3. n. The wood of any of these trees.
  4. n. A light to moderate or grayish brown.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. The fragrant wood of the heart and roots of a tree of several species belonging to the genus Santalum; also, the tree itself. The most important species is S. album, an evergreen 20 or 30 feet high, with the aspect of privet. It is native in dryish localities in southern India, ascending the mountains to an altitude of 3,000 feet. The heart-wood is yellowish—brown, very hard and close-grained, scented with an oil still more abundant in the root, which is distilled for perfumery purposes and is in great request. The wood is much used for carving, making ornamental boxes, etc., being valued as a protective from insects as well as for its perfume. It is also extensively used, especially in China (which is the great market for sandalwood), to burn as incense, both in temples and in dwellings. Other sandalwoods, from which for a time after their discovery large supplies were obtained, are S. Freycinetianum (its wood called citron or yellow sandalwood) and S. pyrularium of the Hawaiian Islands, S. Yasi of the Fijis, S. Austro-caledonicum of New Caledonia, and Fusanws (Santalum) spicatus of Australia, but these sources were soon nearly exhausted. In India and New Caledonia sandalwood is systematically cultivated. See almug and Fusanus. Also called sanderswood.
  2. n. Another East Indian tree, Adenanthera pavonina, with red wood, used as a dyestuff and otherwise. See Adenanthera.
  3. n. In Australia, a small tree, Mida persicaria.

Wiktionary

  1. n. Any of various tropical trees of the genus Santalum, native to India, Australia, Hawaii, and many south Pacific islands.
  2. n. The aromatic heartwood of these trees used in ornamental carving, in the construction of insect-repellent boxes and chests, and as a source of certain perfumes.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. The highly perfumed yellowish heartwood of an East Indian and Polynesian tree (Santalum album), and of several other trees of the same genus, as the Hawaiian Santalum Freycinetianum and S. pyrularium, the Australian S. latifolium, etc. The name is extended to several other kinds of fragrant wood.
  2. n. Any tree of the genus Santalum, or a tree which yields sandalwood.
  3. n. The red wood of a kind of buckthorn, used in Russia for dyeing leather (Rhamnus Dahuricus).

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. close-grained fragrant yellowish heartwood of the true sandalwood; has insect repelling properties and is used for carving and cabinetwork

Examples

  • “That is why they bathe babies in sandalwood water and wrap them in soft red malmal, color of luck.”

    Excerpt: Sister of My Heart by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

  • “Carvèd in sandalwood, fragrant with essences, spread with new pillows,”

    Psalms of the Sisters

  • “I wasn't prompted by instinct or anything of the kind, it was just that my nostrils had been almost unconsciously titillated for some time past by a perfume that I'd just identified as sandalwood, and as I am rather partial to it, I just wanted to see who was wearing it.”

    Puppet on a Chain

  • “The soil of India supports many kinds of useful trees -- sandalwood, which is employed in the construction of the finer kinds of furniture; ebony, with its dark wood; the teak-tree, which grows to a height of 130 feet, and forms immense forests in both the Indian peninsulas and in the Sunda”

    From Pole to Pole A Book for Young People

  • “In previous centuries, many forest resources such as sandalwood were depleted through uncontrolled exploitation.”

    Timor and Wetar deciduous forests

  • “Its a kind of sandalwood fragrance that one would expect if well versed with the Lutens line.”

    The Sexiest Perfumes

  • “Additional woody notes such as sandalwood, agarwood and vetiver create a cleaner and drier impression.”

    Archive 2007-10-01

  • “And in the Pacific, with CSIRO we have an exciting forest genetic resources program underway that will help Pacific Island countries conserve, improve and better promote the use of particular species such as sandalwood and mahogany that can be used in cosmetics, soaps, aromatherapy, perfumery and medicines.”

    Forests, Wood and Livelihoods: Finding a Future for All

  • “Use natural not chemical incense such as sandalwood, with its calming and cooling effect on the mind, or fragrances such as rose or frankincense.”

    Simon & Schuster: The Sivananda Companion To Meditation

  • “The caste do this in the mornings, but in the afternoon they appear as Bairagis or ordinary beggars, and in the evening as sellers of various sacred articles, such as sandalwood,”

    The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India—Volume I (of IV)

Show 10 more examples...

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘sandalwood’.

Comments

No comments yet...

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

‘sandalwood’ has been looked up 1164 times, loved by 1 person, added to 24 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 15.