Hypertext Webster Gateway: "ebony"
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary (easton)
Ebony
a black, hard wood, brought by the merchants from India to Tyre
(Ezek. 27:15). It is the heart-wood, brought by Diospyros
ebenus, which grows in Ceylon and Southern India.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Ebony \Eb"on*y\, a.
Made of ebony, or resembling ebony; black; as, an ebony
countenance.
This ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling.
--Poe.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Ebony \Eb"on*y\, n.; pl. {Ebonies}. [F. ['e]b[`e]ne, L. ebenus,
fr. Gr. ?; prob. of Semitic origin; cf. Heb. hobn[=i]m, pl.
Cf. {Ebon}.]
A hard, heavy, and durable wood, which admits of a fine
polish or gloss. The usual color is black, but it also occurs
red or green.
Note: The finest black ebony is the heartwood of {Diospyros
reticulata}, of the Mauritius. Other species of the
same genus ({D. Ebenum}, {Melanoxylon}, etc.), furnish
the ebony of the East Indies and Ceylon. The West
Indian green ebony is from a leguminous tree ({Brya
Ebenus}), and from the {Exc[ae]caria glandulosa}.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
ebony
adj : very dark black [syn: {ebon}]
n 1: a very dark black [syn: {coal black}, {jet black}, {pitch
black}, {sable}, {soot black}]
2: hard dark-colored heartwood of the ebony tree; used in
cabinetwork and for piano keys
3: tropical tree of southern Asia having hard dark-colored
heartwood used in cabinetwork [syn: {Diospyros ebenum}]
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