What does ivory mean?
Definitions for ivory
ˈaɪ və ri, ˈaɪ vriivo·ry
Here are all the possible meanings and translations of the word ivory.
Princeton's WordNet
ivory, tusknoun
a hard smooth ivory colored dentine that makes up most of the tusks of elephants and walruses
bone, ivory, pearl, off-whitenoun
a shade of white the color of bleached bones
Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
Ivorynoun
Ivory is a hard, solid, and firm substance, of a fine white colour, and capable of a very good polish: it is the dens exertus of the elephant, who carries on each side of his jaws a tooth of six or seven feet in length, of the thickness of a man's thigh at the base, and almost entirely solid; the two sometimes weighing three hundreed and thirty pounds: these ivory tusks are hollow from the base to a certain height, and the cavity is filled with a compact medullary substance, seeming to have a great number of glands in it. The finest ivory is brought from the East-Indies, where great quantity of it is not taken immediately from the head of the animal, but found buried in the earth. The ivory of the islands of Ceylon and of Achem do not become yellow in the wearing as all other ivory does, and it therefore bears a greater price than of the Guinea coast. The preparations of ivory have the same restorative virtues with those of the hartshorn. Hill.
Etymology: ivoire, French; ebur, Lat.
There is more difference between thy flesh and hers, than between jet and ivory. William Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice.
Draw Erato with a sweet and lovely countenance, bearing a heart with an ivory key. Henry Peacham.
From their ivory port the cherubim
Forth issu'd. John Milton.Two gates the silent house of sleep adorn,
Of polish'd iv'ry this, that of transparent horn:
True visions through transparent horn arise,
Through polish'd iv'ry pass deluding lies. John Dryden, Æn.
Webster Dictionary
Ivorynoun
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
Ivorynoun
the tusks themselves of the elephant, etc
Ivorynoun
any carving executed in ivory
Ivorynoun
teeth; as, to show one's ivories
Etymology: [OE. ivori, F. ivoire, fr. L. eboreus made of ivory, fr. ebur, eboris, ivory, cf. Skr. ibha elephant. Cf. Eburnean.]
Freebase
Ivory
Ivory is a hard, white material, derived from the tusks and teeth of animals, that is used in art or manufacturing. It consists of dentine, a tissue that is similar to bone. It has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, and dominoes. Elephant ivory has been the most important source, but ivory from many species including the hippopotamus, walrus, pig, sperm whale, and narwhal has been used. The word ultimately derives from the Ancient Egyptian âb, âbu "elephant", through the Latin ebor- or ebur. The use and trade of elephant ivory have become controversial because they have contributed to seriously declining elephant populations in many countries. In 1975, the Asian elephant was placed on Appendix One of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which prevents international trade between member countries. The African elephant was placed on Appendix One in January 1990. Since then, some southern African countries have had their populations of elephants "downlisted" to Appendix Two, allowing sale of some stockpiles. Ivory has many ornamental and practical uses. Prior to the introduction of plastics, it was used for billiard balls, piano keys, Scottish bagpipes, buttons and a wide range of ornamental items. Synthetic substitutes for ivory have been developed. Plastics have been viewed by piano purists as an inferior ivory substitute on piano keys, although other recently developed materials more closely resemble the feel of real ivory.
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
Ivory
ī′vo-ri, n. the hard, white substance composing the tusks of the elephant and of the sea-horse.—adj. made of, or resembling, ivory.—adj. I′voried, made like ivory: furnished with teeth.—ns. I′vory-black, a black powder, originally made from burnt ivory, but now from bone; I′vory-nut, the nut of a species of palm, containing a substance like ivory; I′vory-palm, the tree which bears the ivory-nut; I′vory-por′celain, a fine ware with an ivory-white glaze.—Show one's ivories, to show the teeth. [O. Fr. ivurie (Fr. ivoire)—L. ebur, eboris, ivory; Coptic ebu; Sans. ibhas, an elephant.]
Suggested Resources
ivory
The ivory symbol -- In this Symbols.com article you will learn about the meaning of the ivory symbol and its characteristic.
ivory
Song lyrics by ivory -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by ivory on the Lyrics.com website.
Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of ivory in Chaldean Numerology is: 8
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of ivory in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8
Examples of ivory in a Sentence
To have a significant impact on the illegal wildlife trade, there is a need to identify and prosecute the leaders of organized crime syndicates, the kingpins, who are unlikely ever to come into contact with the ivory directly, therefore, it is possible that this technique, whilst increasing the number of prosecutions associated with the illegal ivory trade by identifying individuals involved in the handling of the ivory, might have negligible effect on the volume of the illegal trade: national and international couriers are dispensable and readily replaceable.
I felt a bit trapped between the ivory tower Oxford walls, i just had this general feeling that we were quite a young movement, I felt like I needed some real life experience.
Origins is the only stockholder at the moment in Cipexi in Ivory Coast, where we have inherited two factories and some 600 employees of the company.
The elephant species is in the hands of the Chinese President, once the President decides to close down the legal market of ivory and elephant in China, the poaching of elephants will end.
If you could have walked on the planet before humans lived here, maybe the Ivory Coast would have seemed more beautiful than La Côte d'Azur.
Popularity rank by frequency of use
Translations for ivory
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- عاجArabic
- slonová kostCzech
- elfenbenDanish
- ElfenbeinGerman
- ελεφαντόδοντοGreek
- marfilSpanish
- عاجPersian
- norsunluuFinnish
- IvoireFrench
- EabhairIrish
- हाथी दांतHindi
- elefántcsontHungarian
- փղոսկրիցArmenian
- gadingIndonesian
- avorioItalian
- 象牙Japanese
- ದಂತKannada
- 상아Korean
- dentes eburneosLatin
- ivoorDutch
- elfenbeinNorwegian
- kość słoniowaPolish
- marfimPortuguese
- fildeșRomanian
- цвета слоновой костиRussian
- elfenbenSwedish
- யானை தந்தம்Tamil
- దంతపుTelugu
- งาช้างThai
- fildişiTurkish
- ngàVietnamese
- ivoryYiddish
- 象牙Chinese
Get even more translations for ivory »
Translation
Find a translation for the ivory definition in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Word of the Day
Would you like us to send you a FREE new word definition delivered to your inbox daily?
Citation
Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"ivory." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2023. Web. 28 Jan. 2023. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/ivory>.
Discuss these ivory definitions with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In