ivory
Americannoun
plural
ivories-
the hard white substance, a variety of dentin, composing the main part of the tusks of elephants, walruses, etc.
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this substance when taken from a dead animal and used to make carvings, billiard balls, etc.
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some substance resembling this.
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an article made of this substance, as a carving or a billiard ball.
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a tusk, as of an elephant.
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dentin of any kind.
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Slang. a tooth, or the teeth.
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Slang. ivories,
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the keys of a piano or of a similar keyboard instrument.
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dice.
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Also called vegetable ivory. the hard endosperm of the ivory nut, used for ornamental purposes, for buttons, etc.
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a creamy or yellowish white.
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a smooth paper finish produced by coating with beeswax before calendering.
adjective
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consisting or made of ivory.
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of the color ivory.
noun
noun
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a hard smooth creamy white variety of dentine that makes up a major part of the tusks of elephants, walruses, and similar animals
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( as modifier )
ivory ornaments
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a tusk made of ivory
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a yellowish-white colour; cream
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( as adjective )
ivory shoes
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a substance resembling elephant tusk
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an ornament, etc, made of ivory
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obsolete Black slaves collectively
Other Word Forms
- ivory-like adjective
- ivorylike adjective
Etymology
Origin of ivory
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Old French ivurie, from Latin eboreus, noun use of neuter adjective, equivalent to ebor- (stem of ebur ) “ivory” + -eus adjective suffix; compare Egyptian ab, abu, Coptic eb, ebu “ivory, elephant,” Sanskrit íbhaḥ “elephant”; -eous
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In Vogelherd Cave in Lone Valley, for example, archaeologists uncovered a small mammoth figurine carved from mammoth ivory.
From Science Daily
He had awoken late in the morning to a sunny day that painted the snowy landscape in dazzling ivory hues.
From Literature
"Beyond ivory, the discovery of elephant remains in European archaeological contexts is exceptionally rare," says the team of scientists in a paper published in Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.
From BBC
Like: George Washington really did have false teeth, but they weren’t wood, as many people believed, but gold, ivory, and even other human teeth.
From Literature
“I use these examples to show my team that we can’t be ivory tower operators.”
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
