Definitions

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

  • noun A southern African deciduous tree (Ocotea bullata) having wood with an unpleasant odor.
  • noun The hard, heavy wood of this tree, used in cabinetwork.
  • noun Any of several trees having wood with an unpleasant odor.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One of several trees with fetid wood.

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

  • noun (Bot.) A name given to several kinds of wood with an unpleasant smell, as that of the Fœtidia Mauritiana of the Mauritius, and that of the South African Ocotea bullata.

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

  • noun Any of several unrelated trees whose wood has an unpleasant smell, but especially Ocotea bullata, a south African tree yielding hard, heavy wood

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Lower down are unspoilt well watered wooded valleys containing a variety of microhabitats and trees such as white stinkwood Celtis africana, wild peach Kiggelaria africana, tree fuchsia Halleria lucida, sagewood Buddleja salvifolia and orange thorn Cassinopsis ilicifolia.

    Vredefort Dome, South Africa 2009

  • Approximately 40% of the forest is medium-rich to rich mixed forest, including key species such as red stinkwood Prunus africana, nationally threatened Newtonia buchanani, Symphonia globulifera, Chrysophyllum pruniforme, Podocarpus spp. and Strombosia scheffleri.

    Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda 2009

  • We took a path up the Berg among groves of stinkwood and essenwood, where a failing stream made an easy route.

    Prester John 2005

  • Sticks of stinkwood mixed in with our regular firewood drove us out of the room another evening.

    Shaman's Crossing Hobb, Robin 2005

  • There were tall timber-trees — yellowwood, sneezewood, essenwood, stinkwood — and the ground was carpeted with thick grass and ferns.

    Prester John 2005

  • The trophy awarded to Mr Mandela had been made of yellowwood and stinkwood.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1994

  • The trophy awarded to Mr Mandela had been made of yellowwood and stinkwood.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1994

  • The trophy awarded to Mr Mandela had been made of yellowwood and stinkwood.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1994

  • He looked at her across the polished stinkwood breakfast table with its encrustation of - H silver and exquisite bone china, and he sighed again.

    The Sound of Thunder Smith, Wilbur, 1933- 1966

  • Max went to the stinkwood desk which filled one corner of the room and picked up a sheaf of papers.

    When the Lion Feeds Smith, Wilbur 1964

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