Phytephas microarpa
(gcide) | Ivory \I"vo*ry\ ([imac]"v[-o]*r[y^]), n.; pl. Ivories. [OE.
ivori, F. ivoire, fr. L. eboreus made of ivory, fr. ebur,
eboris, ivory, cf. Skr. ibha elephant. Cf. Eburnean.]
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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.
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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.
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2. The tusks themselves of the elephant, etc.
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3. Any carving executed in ivory. --Mollett.
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4. pl. Teeth; as, to show one's ivories. [Slang]
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Ivory black. See under Black, n.
Ivory gull (Zool.), 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 (Zool.), 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).
[1913 Webster] ivorybill |