sandalwood, n. (and a.)
Also sandal-wood. Also 6 sandelen-, 7 sandall-, 8 sandle-wood.
[sandal n.2]
1. A scented wood obtained from several species of Santalum; also, an inodorous dye-wood, Pterocarpus santalinus, red sanders.
white sandalwood is obtained from S. album, a tree resembling the myrtle, found on the Malabar coast. citron sandalwood or yellow sandalwood is from S. Freycinetianum, found in the South Sea Islands. red sandalwood = red sanders (see also 2 below).
| c 1511 1st Eng. Bk. Amer. (Arb.) Introd. 29/1 Whyte & red sandelen wodde. 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa vii. 295 There is great plentie of ciuet and Sandall-wood. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 112 Sandle wood, which is of a yellowish colour, and has a most agreeable smell. 1820 Shelley Witch Atl. xxvii, While on her hearth lay blazing many a piece Of sandal wood, rare gums, and cinnamon. 1846 Lindley Veg. Kingd. 787 The Sandal-wood of the Sandwich Islands is the wood of Santalum Freycinetianum and paniculatum. |
2. Applied, usually with distinguishing epithet, to trees of other genera, which produce a wood often used as a substitute for the true sandalwood.
| 1846 Lindley Veg. Kingd. 553 A deep red is yielded by the chips of Adenanthera pavonina, called in India Ruktachundun, or Red Sandal-wood. 1866 Treas. Bot. 1014/2 Queensland Sandalwood. Eremophila Mitchelli. 1874 Ibid. Suppl. 1339/2 False sandal-wood of Crete. Quercus abelicea. 1886 Encycl. Brit. XXI. 256/1 Bucida capitata..is known in the West Indies as sandalwood. 1898 Morris Austral Eng. 401 Eremophila mitchelli..Bastard Sandalwood... E. sturtii..Scentless Sandalwood... Alyxia buxifolia,..called Native Sandalwood in Tasmania. |
3. A perfume derived from sandalwood oil.
| 1865 E. Rimmel Bk. Perfumes viii. 143 Indra..appears very partial to scent, for he is always represented with his breast tinged with sandal-wood. 1973 G. Butler Coffin for Pandora viii. 161 Her heavy scent of heliotrope and sandal⁓wood. |
4. A fashion shade resembling the colour of sandalwood, a light yellowish brown. Also as
adj.| 1926 Daily Express 1 Sept. 10 (Advt.), Shades of mulberry, sandalwood, purple, [etc.]. 1927 Ibid. 26 Feb. 5 This attractive model is designed in sandalwood face-cloth. 1937 [see mist n.1 1 e]. 1976 Country Life 26 Feb. 502/3 Stockings..in..a browny colour called Sandalwood. |
5. Comb., as
Sandalwood English = Beach-la-mar;
sandalwood oil; a strongly aromatic oil obtained by distillation of sandalwood (
Santalum), used in perfumes and cosmetics and formerly as a genito-urinary antiseptic.
| 1922 Jespersen Language 216 The so-called Beach-la-mar (or Beche-le-mar, or Beche de mer English); it is also sometimes called *Sandalwood English. 1936 S. Robertson Devel. Mod. Eng. iv. 89 Beach-la-Mar or Sandalwood-English, spoken..all over the Western Pacific. 1950 J. C. Furnas Anat. Paradise v. 355 Beach-la-mar (sometimes Sandalwood English) is the specific name of this pidgin. 1971 I. F. Hancock in D. Hymes Pidginization & Creolization of Lang. vii. 523 Melanesian Pidgin English, also known as Neo-Melanesian, Sandalwood English, Bêche-de-mer, Beach-la-mar, etc. |
| 1851 Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. iv. 878/2 *Sandal-wood oil..from Mangalore and Canara. 1901 W. H. White Text-bk. Pharmacol. & Therapeutics 586 Sandal-wood oil is very similar in its action to the oils of copaiba and cubebs. 1952 Kirk & Othmer Encycl. Chem. Technol. IX. 589 The Australian sandalwood oils and the West Indian sandalwood oils are distilled from different species. 1965 F. Sargeson Memoirs of Peon v. 109 He was so knowledgeable about the virtues of copaiba and sandalwood oil,..not to mention a chemist who would be of great assistance to me. |