Category:Ivory

I"vo*ry, n.; pl. Ivories. Etym: [OE. ivori, F. ivoire, fr. L. eboreus made of ivory, fr. ebur, eboris, ivory, cf. Skr. ibha elephant. Cf. Eburnean.]

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.

Defn: Teeth; as, to show one's ivories. [Slang] Ivory black. See under Black, n. -- Ivory gull (Zoöl.), a white Arctic gull (Larus eburneus). -- Ivory nut (Bot.), 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 (Bot.), the palm tree which produces ivory nuts. -- Ivory shell (Zoöl.), 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 (above).

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---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Ivory - (Heb. pl. shenhabbim, the "tusks of elephants") was early used in decorations by the Egyptians, and a great trade in it was carried on by the Assyrians (Ezekiel 27:6; Revelation 18:12). It was used by the Phoenicians to ornament the box-wood rowing-benches of their galleys, and Hiram's skilled workmen made Solomon's throne of ivory (1 Kings 10:18). It was brought by the caravans of Dedan (Isaiah 21:13), and from the East Indies by the navy of Tarshish (1 Kings 10:22). Many specimens of ancient Egyptian and Assyrian ivory-work have been preserved. The word habbim is derived from the Sanscrit ibhas, meaning "elephant," preceded by the Hebrew article (ha); and hence it is argued that Ophir, from which it and the other articles mentioned in 1 Kings 10:22 were brought, was in India.