shagreen
(ʃəˈgriːn)
Also 7–8 shagrin, shaggreen, 8 shaggareen, 7–9 chagrin.
[Var. chagrin n.]
1. A species of untanned leather with a rough granular surface, prepared from the skin of the horse, ass, etc., or of the shark, seal, etc., and frequently dyed green. Also, an imitation of this.
| 1677 [see 3]. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. Ind. & P. 264 Hides and Leather from Bulgaria, Turky, and of their own dressing, which excels that we call..Shagreen for Durableness. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 245 ¶2 A Bible bound in Shagreen. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VI. 239 His [the shark's] skin..being that substance which covers instrument cases, called shagreen. 1777 Cook 3rd Voy. iii. ix. (1784) II. 174 The men of Mataia..cover..their bodies with a sort of shagreen, being skin of fishes. 1852 C. Morfit Tanning & Currying (1853) 443 The genuine oriental shagreen is not a true leather, but a skin prepared by drying. 1891 E. Peacock N. Brendon II. 327 A thin oval case covered with dark shagreen. 1907 Galsworthy Country House i. i. 2 A tall man..whose tall wife carried a small bag of silver and shagreen. |
b. The skin of various sharks, rays, etc., which is covered with close-set calcified papillæ, forming a hard rough surface: used for polishing, etc.
| 1870 Nicholson Man. Zool. lviii. (1875) 434 The so-called ‘shagreen’ of the Dog-fishes and sharks is composed of very small and close-set tooth-like processes. 1871 Huxley Anat. Vert. iii. 126 Very commonly it [the integument of sharks, etc.] is developed into papillæ, which become calcified, and give rise to toothlike structures; these, when they are very small and close-set, constitute what is called shagreen. 1873 Mivart Elem. Anat. vii. 277 These [calcifications] may be quite small and thickly distributed all over the body. A skin so furnished is called shagreen. |
c. transf. in
Iron-founding. (See
quot.)
| 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., Shagreen, hard, colored, metallic spots found on the surface of iron castings. |
† 2. A silk fabric.
Obs. rare.
| 1702 Lady G. Baillie Househ. Bk. (1911) 197 For 5½ ells black shagrin..18 9 0. 1728 Mrs. Delany in Life & Corr. (1861) I. 177, I..bought eighteen yards of very pretty white silk for Trott, something in the nature of shagreen, but a better colour than they ever are. 1741 Anti-Pamela; Mem. Mr. J. Parry 129 Nicholas advised him..to have the suit lined with white Shagreen. |
3. attrib. and
Comb. a. attrib. passing into
adj., made of shagreen, as
shagreen case,
shagreen cover,
shagreen skin.
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Shagreen,..a sort of rough, green Leather; as A *Shagreen Case. 1730 Inventory D. Bond's Goods (1732) 34 A Shaggareen Case for Bottles. 1852 Thackeray Esmond iii. vii, She held out the black shagreen-case. |
| c 1696 Prior Cupid & Gan. 19 Two Table-Books in *Shagreen Covers. |
| 1677 J. P. tr. Tavernier's Trav. i. iv. 21 [They] wear Boots or Shooes of *Shagrin-Leather. |
| Ibid., *Shagrin-Skins. 1782–3 W. F. Martyn Geog. Mag. I. 42 In this country are also manufactures of..shagreen skins and other leather. |
b. (Sense 1 b.)
shagreen-granule,
shagreen point,
shagreen scale;
shagreen-ray,
-skate,
Raiia fullonica.
| 1896 H. Woodward Guide Fossil Reptiles Brit. Mus. 82 In the majority of instances, the fossils [of sharks] consist merely of detached spines, *shagreen-granules, teeth, or pieces of cartilage. |
| 1857 H. Miller Test. Rocks ii. 58 An external armature, consisting of plates, spines, and *shagreen points of solid bone. |
| 1776 Pennant Brit. Zool. III. 77 *Shagreen Ray. I met with this species at Scarborough, where it is called the French Ray. |
| 1849 Murchison Siluria vii. 138 The fish-remains are chiefly those of the minute *Shagreen scales. |
| 1882 J. E. Tenison-Woods Fish New South Wales 191 *Shagreen-skate. Raiia fullonica. Britain. |
c. Comb.:
shagreen-covered,
shagreen-like adjs.| 1857 H. Miller Test. Rocks i. 62 The dorsal spines and *shagreen covered skin of the common dog fish. 1864 Sala Quite Alone I. viii. 131 Limp, green, shagreen-covered registers to keep the accounts in. |
| 1840 tr. Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 317 Others [of the subgenus Pimelodes] have the head oval, and a kind of helmet of *shagreen-like bones. |