ˈboxwood
[f. box n.1 + wood n.]
1. The wood of the box-tree; much used by turners, wood-engravers, and in the manufacture of mathematical and musical instruments.
| 1652 Proc. Parliament No. 131. 2025, 834 Logs of Box wood. 1767 Richardson in Phil. Trans. LVIII. 20 Two..of brass, and two of box-wood. 1855 Singleton Virgil II. 351 Inlaid in boxwood, or in ebony. |
2. The tree or shrub itself.
| 1768 Boswell Corsica i. (ed. 2) 49 Its honey hath always been accounted better, by reason of the boxwood and yew. 1871 M. Collins Mrq. & Merch. II. vii. 197 Fringes of boxwood grew here and there. |
3. American boxwood, Cornus florida; a deciduous tree of North America, having very heavy close-grained wood, the bark of which is used as a substitute for Peruvian bark; Jamaica boxwood, Tecoma pentaphylla.
4. attrib.
| c 1865 J. Wylde in Circ. Sc. I. 314/1 Boxwood charcoal answers best. 1880 Printing Times 15 May 116/1 One or two remaining Abkhasian boxwood forests. |