ivory
/ˈaɪv(ə)ɹi/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.85 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
3
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The hard white form of dentin which forms the tusks of elephants, walruses and other animals.
Uncountable
noun
The keys of a piano; or, the white keys, as opposed to the black keys (ebonies).
Countable; Uncountable
adj
Made of ivory.
Example Sentences
- "“Leave the ivory!” he cried. “Leave the ivory! Dead men have no use for ivory!” Some of the Manyuema started to lay down their loads, but this was altogether too much for the avaricious Arabs."
- "Ye forgot some o' yer ivories, didn't ye, on th' grass?"
- "to tickle the ivories"
- "Tony had gone into the storage room and gotten two more standing lamps, one placed near the ebonies and ivories."
- "c. 1846, Alexandre Dumas (translated by William Barrow), The Three Musketeers The triumphant Englishman did not give himself the trouble even to shake the dice; and, so sure was he of winning, that he threw the ivory on the table without looking."
- "Men that I knew around Wapatomac didn't wear high, shiny plug hats, nor yeller spring overcoats, nor carry canes with ivory heads as big as a catboat's anchor, as you might say."
Etymology
From Middle English yvory, ivorie, from Anglo-Norman ivurie, from Latin eboreus (“in or of ivory”) adjective of ebur (“ivory”) (genitive eboris), from Demotic Egyptian yb (“ivory, Elephantine”) (compare Coptic ⲓⲏⲃ (iēb, “Elephantine”)), from Egyptian ꜣbw (“elephant, ivory, Elephantine”), from Proto-Afroasiatic *leb-. Displaced native Old English elpendbān (literally “elephant bone”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in People.