Word Meanings - IVORY - Book Publishers vocabulary database

Teeth; as, to show one's ivories. Ivory black. See under Black, n. -- Ivory gull , a white Arctic gull . -- Ivory nut , 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,

Additional info about word: IVORY

Teeth; as, to show one's ivories. Ivory black. See under Black, n. -- Ivory gull , a white Arctic gull . -- Ivory nut , 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 , the palm tree which produces ivory nuts. -- Ivory shell , 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 (more info) made of ivory, fr. ebur, eboris, ivory, cf. Skr. ibha elephant. Cf. 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. 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. 2. The tusks themselves of the elephant, etc. 3. Any carving executed in ivory. Mollett. 4. pl.

Related words: (words related to IVORY)

• YOUNGISH
  Somewhat young. Tatler.
• UNDERDOER
  One who underdoes; a shirk.
• UNDERBRED
  Not thoroughly bred; ill-bred; as, an underbred fellow. Goldsmith.
• UNDERSECRETARY
  A secretary who is subordinate to the chief secretary; an assistant secretary; as, an undersecretary of the Treasury.
• WHITECAP
  The European redstart; -- so called from its white forehead. The whitethroat; -- so called from its gray head. The European tree sparrow. 2. A wave whose crest breaks into white foam, as when the wind is freshening.
• WHITE-FRONTED
  Having a white front; as, the white-fronted lemur. White- fronted goose , the white brant, or snow goose. See Snow goose, under Snow.
• UNDERPLOT
  1. A series of events in a play, proceeding collaterally with the main story, and subservient to it. Dryden. 2. A clandestine scheme; a trick. Addison.
• WHITE FLY
  Any one of numerous small injurious hemipterous insects of the genus Aleyrodes, allied to scale insects. They are usually covered with a white or gray powder.
• UNDERNICENESS
  A want of niceness; indelicacy; impropriety.
• UNDERSOIL
  The soil beneath the surface; understratum; subsoil.
• UNDERDOLVEN
  p. p. of Underdelve.
• WHITESTER
  A bleacher of lines; a whitener; a whitster.
• WHITE-HEART
  A somewhat heart-shaped cherry with a whitish skin.
• UNDERPROP
  To prop from beneath; to put a prop under; to support; to uphold. Underprop the head that bears the crown. Fenton.
• UNDERNIME
  1. To receive; to perceive. He the savor undernom Which that the roses and the lilies cast. Chaucer. 2. To reprove; to reprehend. Piers Plowman.
• UNDERCREST
  To support as a crest; to bear. Shak.
• FLUID
  A fluid substance; a body whose particles move easily among themselves. Note: Fluid is a generic term, including liquids and gases as species. Water, air, and steam are fluids. By analogy, the term is sometimes applied to electricity and magnetism,
• UNDERGROUND INSURANCE
  Wildcat insurance.
• UNDERSAY
  To say by way of derogation or contradiction. Spenser.
• BLACK LETTER
  The old English or Gothic letter, in which the Early English manuscripts were written, and the first English books were printed. It was conspicuous for its blackness. See Type.
• ARCTIC
  Pertaining to, or situated under, the northern constellation called the Bear; northern; frigid; as, the arctic pole, circle, region, ocean; an arctic expedition, night, temperature. Note: The arctic circle is a lesser circle, parallel
• PLUNDERER
  One who plunders or pillages.
• FRANKFORT BLACK
  . A black pigment used in copperplate printing, prepared by burning vine twigs, the lees of wine, etc. McElrath.
• HEPPELWHITE
  Designating a light and elegant style developed in England under George III., chiefly by Messrs. A.Heppelwhite & Co.