Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Leathery in texture.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Consisting of leather.
  • Resembling leather in texture, toughness, pliability, or appearance; leathery.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Consisting of or resembling, leather; leatherlike; tough.
  • adjective (Bot.) Stiff, like leather or parchment.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective botany Resembling leather; leathery.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective resembling or made to resemble leather; tough but pliable

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Late Latin coriāceus, from Latin corium, leather; see sker- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

Comments

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  • "He certainly has a private network of informants, some of them in France ... But he is a difficult, coriaceous animal and if this agent does not succeed quite soon, success is improbable..."

    --Patrick O'Brian, Treason's Harbour, 61

    February 15, 2008

  • What I like to do with words like this is spend a minute or two enumerating the different conceivable pronunciations, and then guessing which one is correct. I got this one right.

    February 18, 2008

  • "'As you see,' said Redfern, 'the skin is healing—little inflammation: bone almost entirely covered. Earlier floggings had rendered it coriaceous. We treat with tepid sponging and wool-fat.'"

    --Patrick O'Brian, The Nutmeg of Consolation, 327

    Another (less grisly) usage note on durian.

    March 4, 2008

  • This word reminds me of the sound of dragging a grater across a lemon. (The lemon is for you, reesetee)

    May 4, 2011