ivory

From Middle English yvory, ivorie, from Anglo-Norman ivurie, from Latin eboreus (“in or of ivory”) adjective of ebur (“ivory”) (genitive eboris), from Demotic yb (“ivory, Elephantine”) (compare Coptic ⲓⲏⲃ (iēb, “Elephantine”)), from Egyptian ꜣbw (“elephant, ivory, Elephantine”), from Proto-Afroasiatic *leb-. Displaced native Old English elpendbān (literally “elephant bone”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈaɪv(ə)ɹi/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: i‧vo‧ry, ivo‧ry

ivory (countable and uncountable, plural ivories)

1. (uncountable) The hard white form of dentin which forms the tusks of elephants, walruses and other animals.
   • 1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 145:

     “Leave the ivory!” he cried. “Leave the ivory! Dead men have no use for ivory!” Some of the Manyuema started to lay down their loads, but this was altogether too much for the avaricious Arabs.

2. A creamy white color, the color of ivory.

   ivory:  

3. Something made from or resembling ivory.
4. (collective, singular or in plural) The teeth.
5. (collective, singular or in plural) The keys of a piano; or, the white keys, as opposed to the black keys (ebonies).

   Coordinate term: ebony

   to tickle the ivories

   • 2016, Peter Wendt, Nikki Magee, Lulu.com, page 52:

     Tony had gone into the storage room and gotten two more standing lamps, one placed near the ebonies and ivories.

6. (slang, ethnic slur) A white person.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:white person

7. (informal) A die (object bearing numbers, thrown in games of chance).
   • c. 1846, Alexandre Dumas (translated by William Barrow), The Three Musketeers

     The triumphant Englishman did not give himself the trouble even to shake the dice; and, so sure was he of winning, that he threw the ivory on the table without looking.

• → Pohnpeian: aipori

• Galalith

ivory (not comparable)

1. Made of ivory.
   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter X, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     Men that I knew around Wapatomac didn't wear high, shiny plug hats, nor yeller spring overcoats, nor carry canes with ivory heads as big as a catboat's anchor, as you might say.

2. Resembling or having the colour of ivory.
   • 1938, Interior Decoration To-day, page 132:

     The walls and ceiling of this drawing-room in Montague Square are painted ivory.

• chryselephantine
• eburnation

• odontolite
• scrimshaw
• whalebone
• Appendix:Colors

ivory

1. alternative form of yvory