ivory--prophetes.ai

▪ I. ivory
    (ˈaɪvərɪ)
    Forms: α. 4 iuor, yuor(e, -ere, iueer, iuoere, euor, 4–5 yvoyre, yuer, euour, 5 iv-, yvor(e, iuyr, iwr, 5–6 yvoire, evour(e, 6 evor(e, euir, euoir; 6 ebure. β. 4– ivory; also 4 ywori, yuory, -rie, iuory, 4–5 yuorye, 4– 6 evorye, euery, 4–7 yvory, 5 yuori, -rye, yvere, iwery, evury, -erey, 5–6 ivery, yvery, 6 iuorey, iu-, yuery(e, yvorie, everye, 6–7 iu-, ivorie, 7 yv'ry, 8–9 iv'ry. γ. erron. 5–6 veveri, 6 vyveri.
    [a. OF. yvoire (13th c.), Norm. Fr. ivurie (12th c.), iviere, yvyere (15th c.), mod.F. ivoire = Pr. evori, avori, It. avorio:—L. eboreus adj., from ebur, ebor- ivory: cf. Coptic ebu ivory, Skt. ibhas elephant. The form ebure in Lyndesay is refashioned after the Latin.]
    I. 1. a. The hard, white, elastic, and fine-grained substance (being dentine of exceptional hardness) composing the main part of the tusks of the elephant, mammoth (fossil ivory), hippopotamus, walrus, and narwhal; it forms a very valuable article of commerce, being extensively employed as a material for many articles of use or ornament.

α a 1300 Cursor M. 9944 (Cott.) A tron of iuor [Gött. yuor] graid. c 1320 Sir Tristr. 1888 Mirie notes he fand Opon his rote of yuere. a 1340 Hampole Psalter xliv. 7 Howsis of euor. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 178 Hyr vysage whyt as playn yuore. c 1369 Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 946 Hyr throte..Semed a rounde toure of yvoyre. 1388 Wyclif Song Sol. vii. 4 Thi necke is as a tour of yuer. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 17 Of yvor white He hath hire wroght. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxv. 115 Ilkane..beres before him a table of iaspre, or of euour. 14.. Lydg. in MS. Soc. Antiq. 134 lf. 14 (Halliwell) Like yvor that cometh fro so ferre, His teeth schalle be even, smothe and white. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 267/1 Ivor, or ivery (H. iwr, or iwery, S. yvory, P. iuyr), ebur. c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun 1148 Of fynest gold and aldere whittest yvore. 1530 Lyndesay Test. Papyngo 1107 Syne, close thame in one cais of Ebure fyne. a 1586 [see 8 b].

β a 1300 Cursor M. 9360 (Cott.) Fair es þe muth o þat leuedi, And ilk toth es als ywori [Gött. yuory, Trin. Iuory]. 13.. K. Alis. 7666 (MS. Bodl.) Þe pynnes weron of yuory. c 1386 Chaucer Sompn. T. 33 A peyre of tables al of yuory. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 79 Euery and precious stones. 1463 Bury Wills (Camden) 15 My tablees of ivory. ? c 1475 Sqr. lowe Degre 100 Anone that lady, fayre and fre Undyd a pynne of yverè. 1481 Caxton Myrr. ii. vi. 76 The tooth of an olyfaunt is yuorye. 1552 Invent. Ch. Goods (Surtees) 43 One pix of everye, bounde with silver. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. i. 40 Double gates..The one faire fram'd of burnisht Yvory. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iii. i. 42 There is more difference betweene thy flesh and hers, then betweene Iet and Iuorie. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 368 To the feate Of Artisan, give place the gould, stones Yv'ry, and Geat. 1611 Bible Ezek. xxvii. 15 Hornes of Iuorie, and Ebenie. a 1732 Gay Poems (1745) I. 56 For this, shall Elephants their ivory shed. 1812 J. Smyth Pract. of Customs (1821) 84 The Ceylon Ivory, and that of the Island of Achem, do not become yellow in the wearing, as all other Ivory does. 1875 Ure's Dict. Arts II. 1038 The hardest, toughest, whitest, and most translucent ivory has the preference in the market; for many purposes the horn of the narwhal being considered the best... The ivory of the hippopotamus is preferred by dentists. 1881 C. S. Tomes in Encycl. Brit. XIII. 522/2 When first cut it [African ivory] is semi-transparent and of a warm colour; in this state it is called ‘green’ ivory, and as it dries it becomes much lighter in colour and more opaque.

γ ? a 1500 Inventory in Paston Lett. III. 408 A combe of veveri. 1560 Reg. Gild Corpus Chr. York (Surtees) 307 A pyx of vyvery with a lytle white canaby.

b. = dentine.

1831 R. Knox Cloquet's Anat. 79 The bony portion of the teeth, or the Ivory, forms a very dense mass.

2. A substance resembling ivory, or made in imitation of it. vegetable ivory, the hard albumen of the nut or seed of a South American palm, Phytelephas macrocarpa, which resembles ivory in hardness, colour, and texture, and is used for ornamental work, buttons, etc.

1842 D. Cooper in Microsc. Jrnl. No. 16 (heading) On Vegetable Ivory. 1857 Henfrey Bot. 394 Nuts suitable for turning are afforded by the seeds of Attalea funifera (Coquilla-nuts), Phytelephas macrocarpa (Vegetable Ivory). 1866 Treas. Bot. 884/2 The fruit consists of a collection of six or seven drupes... Each drupe contains from six to nine seeds, the Vegetable Ivory of commerce... The seed at first contains a clear insipid fluid..afterwards this same liquor becomes milky and sweet, and it changes by degrees until it becomes as hard as ivory. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1207/1 Ivory, Artificial, a compound of caoutchouc, sulphur, and some white ingredients, such as gypsum..or pipeclay. 1887 Whitaker's Alm. Advt. 12 Burmese Ivory..Exact imitation of Real Ivory, in colour, grain, and finish.

3. black ivory: African Negro slaves as an object of commerce. slang. [From the trade in these at the time being chiefly located in the same districts as that in ivory.]

1873 R. M. Ballantyne (title) Black Ivory: Adventures among Slavers. Ibid. 27 The price of black ivory was up in the market. 1884 Sword & Trowel June 258 The trade, which began with ivory, had now turned to slave-dealing—black ivory, as these, our fellow-men, are called in the market. 1885 Pall Mall G. 14 Mar. 11/2 Help them to make money otherwise than by dealing in black ivory, and we shall see the slave trade extirpated.

4. The colour of ivory; ivory-white; esp. whiteness of the human skin.

1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. iii. 20 The doubtfull Mayd..Was all abasht, and her pure yvory Into a cleare Carnation suddeine dyde. c 1632 Poem in Athenæum No. 2883. 121/2 How well the Paynter to the life exprest The soft and swelling yvory of her Breast. 1725 Pope Odyss. xviii. 228 The pure ivory o'er her bosom spreads. 1888 Daily News 1 May 5/7 Ivory-white is generally preferred to dead-white for the dress, as being less trying to the complexion. Nearly all recent brides have worn ivory.

5. a. An article made of ivory, esp. a carving in that material. b. A season ticket, etc. as consisting of a tablet of ivory. c. slang (usu. pl.) (a) Dice; to touch ivory, to play at dice. (b) Billiard balls.

1830 Lytton P. Clifford iv, Suppose we adjourn to Fish Lane, and rattle the ivories! 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade 207/1 Ivory is also the name for a pass-ticket on a railway, or subscriber's admission to a theatre, public gardens, etc. 1864 Sala Quite Alone vii, Yes, I will promise you I will keep my head cool, and won't touch ivory tonight. 1875 W. Maskell Ivories 15 The famous Assyrian ivories..which are..preserved in the British Museum. Ibid. 119, I advised that the ivories should be taken out of the wooden frames. 1888 Sporting Life 28 Nov. (Farmer), On new premises..where erstwhile the click of ivories was heard. 1899 Sir A. West Recoll. I. iii. 95, I was given what was known as an ‘ivory’ for Lord Dudley's double box on the grand tier.

d. collect. sing. and pl. The keys of a piano or similar instrument. colloq.

1818 Keats Let. 18 Dec. (1958) II. 13 She plays the Music without one sensation but the feel of the ivory at her fingers. 1854 Thackeray Newcomes I. xi. 114 It is a wonder how any fingers can move over the jingling ivory so quickly as Miss Cann's. 1918 [see jazz v. 2]. 1940 S.P.E. Tract lv. 196 Tickle the ivories. 1962 Times 10 Feb. 4/2 ‘Ivory-tickling’ has become an outmoded and faintly derogatory description of piano-playing. 1974 Times 15 Feb. 14/7 Its cover portrays the Prime Minister, seated at the organ, tinkling one lot of ivories and flashing the other lot.

6. A tusk of an elephant, etc.

1894 Sir G. H. Portal Mission Uganda v. 88 They danced,..swinging the great ivories from one shoulder to the other. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 325 Some of these private ivories are kept for years and years before they reach the trader's hands.

7. slang. (sing. and pl.) The teeth.

1782 H. Cowley Bold Stroke for Husb. ii. ii, Don Sancho, who..complains of the tooth-ache, to make you believe that the two rows of ivory he carries in his head, grew there. 1811 Lex. Bal. s.v., How the swell flashed his ivories: how the gentleman showed his teeth. 1819 Sporting Mag. V. 7 A chattering blow upon the mouth, which loosened the ivory. 1848 Lowell Biglow Papers Poems 1890 II. 147 He showed his ivory some, I guess, an' sez, ‘You're fairly pinned’. 1898 Tit-Bits 18 June 230/1 His friend who gets one of his ‘ivories’ extracted with..skill by the same dentist.

II. attrib. and Comb.
8. simple attrib., passing into adj. a. Made or consisting of ivory. ivory gate: see gate n.¹ 5.

1382 Wyclif Ps. xliv. 9 [xlv. 8] Fro the yuer housis. 1533 Bellenden Livy v. (1822) 462 Thay sett doun in evore chiaris. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. ii. i. 352 In Iuory cofers I haue stuft my crownes. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 457 The Ivory Image of Aiax. 1738 Glover Leonidas iii. 148 The iv'ry car with azure sapphire shone. 1855 Tennyson Letters iii, She took the little ivory chest.

b. White or smooth as ivory.

a 1586 Banks Helicon 63 in Montgomerie's Poems 275 With yvoire nek, and pomellis round, And comlie intervall. 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 230 Sometimes her arms infold him like a band..‘Fondling’, she saith, ‘since I have hemm'd thee here Within the circuit of this ivory pale [etc.]’. 1624 Quarles Div. Poems, Sion's Sonn. xii, Thy ivorie Teeth. 1652 H. C. Looking-Gl. for Ladies A iij, Let your Ivory fingers turn over these Leaves. 1786 tr. Beckford's Vathek (1868) 57 Refresh your delicate feet and your ivory limbs. 1879 St. George's Hosp. Rep. IX. 208 The complexion was typically ‘ivory’. 1885 Pall Mall G. 23 June 8/1 The bridesmaids' dresses were composed of embroidered mousselaine de soie over ivory satin. 1897 Ouida Massarenes xiv, She turned her ivory shoulder on him.

9. General comb.: a. attributive, as ivory broker, ivory convoy, ivory dealer, ivory merchant, etc. b. objective and obj. gen. as ivory-bearer, ivory-carving, ivory-hunter, ivory-hunting, ivory-turner, ivory-turning. c. similative, parasynthetic, and instrumental, as ivory-backed, ivory-beaked, ivory-faced, ivory-hafted, ivory-handled, ivory-headed, ivory-hilted, ivory-studded, ivory-tinted, ivory-toned, ivory-wristed, adjs.; also ivory-like adj.

1887 J. Ashby-Sterry Lazy Minstrel (1892) 192 There's hair-dye for the gay old boys, And *ivory-backed brushes.

1864 Tennyson Islet 12 A bevy of Eroses apple-cheek'd In a shallop of crystal *ivory-beak'd.

1898 19th Cent. 1021 The *ivory-bearers eluded the ivory-hunters, and moved on into the grass.

1887 Pall Mall G. 20 Aug. 10/2 The alleged news of the death of Mr. Stanley is said..to have been brought by *ivory-brokers.

1839 Chambers' Tour Holland 22/1 Numerous cases displaying prodigies of Chinese skill, in *ivory-carving.

1885 Pall Mall G. 27 May 8/1 The story of an *ivory convoy making its way to Zanzibar.

1799 Corse in Phil. Trans. LXXXIX. 212, I am credibly informed, by the *ivory-dealers in London, that the largest tusks generally come from Africa.

1886 Stevenson Dr. Jekyll iv. (ed. 2) 41 An *ivory-faced and silvery-haired old woman opened the door.

1706 Vanbrugh Mistake iv. i. 296 There's thy *ivory-hafted knife again.

1813 Examiner 3 May 275/1 *Ivory-handled..Knives and Forks.

1820 Keats St. Agnes xi, The aged creature came, Shuffling along with *ivory-headed wand.

1900 Q. Rev. Apr. 307 White *ivory-hunters are scarce nowadays.

1898 Dublin Rev. July 168 The lessees also make lucrative speculations in *ivory-hunting.

1835–6 Todd Cycl. Anat. I. 460/1 The removal of an *ivory-like exostosis from the tibia.

1863 Speke Discov. Nile 101 The greatest man we found here was a broken-down *ivory-merchant called Serboko.

1715–20 Pope Iliad xix. 430 The *iv'ry-studded reins return'd behind, Wav'd o'er their backs and to the chariot join'd.

1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. lxx, She was glowing like..a delicate, *ivory-tinted flower. 1703 Lond. Gaz. No. 3902/4 Serjeant Jacob Rand,..an *Ivory-Turner by Trade.

c 1611 Chapman Iliad i. 197 Th' *ivory-wristed Queen.

10. Special comb.: ivory-agaric, a species of mushroom, Hygrophorus eburneus (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1887); ivory-barnacle, a species of Acorn-shell, Balanus eburneus (Cent. Dict. 1890); ivory-bill, a species of woodpecker, Picus or Campephilus principalis: cf. next; ivory-billed a., having a bill resembling ivory, as ivory-billed woodpecker (see ivorist), and ivory-billed coot, (Fulica Americana); ivory board, a kind of pasteboard with both surfaces smooth; ivory-brown, bone-brown obtained from ivory; ivory dome U.S. slang, a stupid person; ivory-eater (see quot.); ivory-exostosis, Path., ‘the form of bone tumour which is hard and dense like ivory’ (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1884); ivory-gull, see gull n.¹; ivory-jelly, a jelly made from ivory dust or turnings (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1887); ivory-joint, ? a morbid hardening of a joint; ivory-line, Entom., a smooth yellowish-white space found on the elytra of many beetles; ivory-nut, the seed of the South American palm, Phytelephas macrocarpa, the albumen of which hardens into vegetable ivory: see sense 2; the Corozo-nut; hence ivory-plant; ivory (nut) palm, a South American palm of the genus Phytelephas, or a Micronesian one of the genus Metroxylon, both of which bear nuts yielding vegetable ivory; ivory-paper, a thick paper or thin cardboard with a finely prepared polished surface, used by artists; ivory plum U.S., the wintergreen, Gaultheria procumbens, or the creeping snowberry, Chiogenes hispidula, or their fruit; ivory-rat, = ivory-eater; ivory-saw (see quot.); ivory-shell, a univalve of the genus Eburna, of an ivory colour; ivory-space, = ivory-line; ivory-tablet (see quot.); ivory-tree, an East Indian tree of the genus Wrightia, having wood of a texture and colour resembling ivory (Miller Plant-n. 1884); ivory-type (see quot. 1875); ivorywood Austral., the tree Siphonodon australe, or its timber, which is used for drawing-instruments, etc.; ivory-yellow, a very pale yellow, almost white. Also ivory-black, -bone, -white.

1787 Ellicott Almanac 1788 (Winchester, Virginia) sig. B2, The land fowls [of Kentucky] are turkeys, pheasants,..the perraquet, *ivory-bill, woodcock, and the great owl. 1872 E. Coues Key to N. Amer. Birds 191 The ivory-bill and the flicker stand nearly at extremes of the family. 1893 Newton Dict. Birds 460 Ivory-bill, an abbreviation of Ivory-billed Woodpecker, so called from the colour of its beak, Picus or Campephilus principalis.

1893 *Ivory-billed [see ivory-bill above].

1926 Paper Terminol. (Spalding & Hodge) 14 *Ivory boards, superfine cardboard highly finished by means of bees⁓waxed rolls. 1962 F. T. Day Introd. to Paper iv. 46 A large variety of boards is produced by the paper maker, in grades ranging from high class Bristol and Ivory boards to the cheaper kind of Triplex board.

1923 *Ivory dome [see dome n. 4 d].

1861 P. B. Du Chaillu Equat. Afr. xvi. 281 An..animal of the squirrel kind, called by the natives the mboco, which eats ivory. I have called it the ‘*ivory-eater, Sciurus eborivorus’.

1885 Life Sir R. Christison I. 122 But eventually he was attacked with what appeared to be sub-acute rheumatism of both knee-joints, ending slowly in ‘*ivory-joints’, or perhaps anchylosis.

1880 P. Gillmore On Duty 11 In the south the veldt is covered with the *ivory needle thorn.

1844 W. Purdie Let. 14 Dec. in Compan. Bot. Mag. (1847) LXXIII. 11 The Phytelephas (Vegetable *Ivory Palm) is procurable at Sta. Martha. Ibid. 12, I think of ascending the Magdalena, and myself collecting growing plants and seeds of the Ivory Palm. 1871 C. Kingsley At Last I. viii. 303 The ripe fruit [of the Moriche palm] contains first a rich pulpy nut, and at last a hard cone, something like that of the vegetable ivory palm. 1916 Jrnl. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. XXIV. 682 Names of the Tree [sc. Phytelephas macrocarpa]. English: Large-fruited Ivory Plant, Ivory Palm, Ivory nut Palm, Vegetable Ivory Plant. 1951 J. H. Kraemer Trees W. Pacific Region 10 In this genus [sc. Metroxylon] are the sago palms and the ivory-nut palms. 1966 E. J. H. Corner Nat. Hist. Palms xiii. 315 This anomalous species is the Caroline ivory-nut palm, M[etroxylon] amicorum of Micronesia.

1866 Treas. Bot. 884/1 The *Ivory Plant of South America..producing the nuts known as..Vegetable Ivory in commerce.

1828 J. Neal Rachel Dyer 55 The more brilliant *ivory-plumbs or clustered bunch-berries rattled among the withered herbage. 1891 Jrnl. Amer. Folk-Lore IV. 149 Gaultheria procumbens seems to have an almost endless variety of epithets... The berries are called Ivory Plums. 1892 Ibid. V. 99 Chiogenes serpyllifolia, ivory plums.

1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 325 Ivories..gnawed by that strange little creature..the *ivory rat. This squirrel-like creature was first brought to Europe by Paul du Chaillu.

1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1207/2 *Ivory-saw, a thin saw stretched in a steel frame for sawing ivory from the solid.

1873 Aldrich Marjorie Daw vii, There is an exquisite *ivorytype of Marjorie. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1207/2 Ivory-type (Photography), a kind of picture in which two finished photographs are taken, one light in colour, made translucent by varnish, tinted on the back, and placed over a stronger picture, so as to give the effect of a photograph in natural colours.

1887 Colonial & Indian Exhib. Rep. Col. Sect. 429 *Ivory-wood. 1888 F. M. Bailey Queensland Woods 29 Ivory-wood. A tall tree with straight erect stem, the bark of a light colour... Found in the dense scrubs both north and south in Queensland, and also in New South Wales. 1932 R. H. Anderson Trees New South Wales 145 Ivorywood..is sometimes known as Native Guava. 1965 Austral. Encycl. II. 310/1 Though widely spread in coastal New South Wales and Queensland, the ivorywood is a comparatively rare tree.

▪ II. ivory
dial. form of ivy.