Category:Ebony

Eb"on*y, n.; pl. Ebonies. Etym: [F. ébène, L. ebenus, fr. Gr. hobnim, pl. Cf. Ebon.]

Defn: A hard, heavy, and durable wood, which admits of a fine polish or gloss. The usual color is black, but it also occurs red or green.

Note: The finest black ebony is the heartwood of Diospyros reticulata, of the Mauritius. Other species of the same genus (D. Ebenum, Melanoxylon, etc.), furnish the ebony of the East Indies and Ceylon. The West Indian green ebony is from a leguminous tree (Brya Ebenus), and from the Excæcaria glandulosa.

ebony Eb"on*y, a.

Defn: Made of ebony, or resembling ebony; black; as, an ebony countenance. This ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling. Poe.

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

Ebony - A black, hard wood, brought by the merchants from India to Tyre (Ezekiel 27:15). It is the heart-wood, brought by Diospyros ebenus, which grows in Ceylon and Southern India.