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ebony

ebony

4 5.5
A very hard dark wood used for furniture and instruments
  • noun
  • /ˈɛbəni/
translation icon : ébano
  • I opened a cabinet of thickly grimed, unshining ebony and retrieved a shining goblet and a gleaming carafe with a cut-glass stopper.
  • ivory and ebony

Examples

  • "Maybe teak or ebony or something like that."

    Fiction book (1993)
  • It was in this apartment also that there stood against the western wall a gigantic clock of ebony.

  • The other was a simple ebony stick with a round silver head.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • In all likelihood, he'll have in his hands an ebony cane that is the very twin of this one.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • On a huge table of granite balanced a giant scale made of ebony and silver.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • Lot 368, an inlaid ebony writing desk.

  • The staff she carried in her right hand was a cubit and a half of ebony, bound and ornamented with silver wire.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • The ebony rest with silver ends derives from a commission Saidi received from a Japanese embassy official.

    Academic text (2006)
  • "Extending beyond the borders of gender, she too" moves with short stiff steps, leaning on an ebony stick" (Three Novels 57).

    Academic text (2017)
  • The artisan crafted a beautiful chair entirely out of ebony wood, showcasing its rich color and smooth finish.

Synonyms

ebony wood
vsebony
5.1

A very hard, almost black wood that people use for fine furniture and musical instruments

is a shorter general name that omits the product term
blackwood
vsebony
7.3

A very dark, dense wood used for furniture and musical instruments

is from a single tree species prized for rich color and hardness
mountain ebony
vsebony
  • Indian
9.6

A small Asian tree with hard dark wood and pink or white orchid-like flowers

is the processed dense material rather than the living tree

Compounds

A family of tropical trees like persimmon and ebony that give fruit and hard wood

A small fern with shiny black stems and delicate green leaves that grows on rocky, shaded ground

ebony tree
  • Indian
7.4

A tropical tree with very hard dark wood used for furniture and carving

A very hard, almost black wood that people use for fine furniture and musical instruments

A small fern that grows in shaded tropical forests in the Americas

9.6

A small Asian tree with hard dark wood and pink or white orchid-like flowers

How Hard

ironwood
1 8.5
ebony
4 5.5
oak
44 1.0
pine
39 2.6
balsa
3 5.6

Surface Forms

ebony singular
ebonies plural

Etymology

Ebony comes from an old Greek word ebenos that named a heavy, hard wood prized for furniture and musical instruments because of its deep black heartwood. So, ebony as a material means that dark, very hard wood used for carving and piano keys.