" 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 Excæcaria glandulosa." [1913 Webster]

Ebony, a.

Made of ebony, or resembling ebony; black; as, an ebony countenance. [1913 Webster]

"This ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling." [1913 Webster]

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OXFORD DICTIONARY

Ebony, n. & adj.
--n. (pl. -ies)
1 a heavy hard dark wood used for furniture.
2 any of various trees of the genus Diospyros producing this.
--adj.
1 made of ebony.
2 black like ebony.

Etymology

earlier hebeny f. (h)eben(e) = ebon, perh. after ivory

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THESAURUS

Ebony

acacia, ailanthus, alder, alligator pear, allspice, almond, apple, apricot, ash, aspen, atramentous, avocado, balsa, balsam, banyan, bass, basswood, bay, bayberry, beamless, beech, beechwood, betel palm, birch, black, black as coal, black as ebony, black as ink, black as midnight, black as night, black race, blackness, buckeye, burl, butternut, buttonwood, cacao, caliginous, candleberry, cashew, cassia, catalpa, charcoal, cherry, chestnut, chinquapin, cinnamon, citron, clove, coal, coal-black, coaly, coconut, cork, cork oak, crow, cypress, dark, dark as night, dark as pitch, darkling, darkness, darksome, deep black, dogwood, ebon, eclipsed, elder, elm, eucalyptus, fig, fir, frankincense, grapefruit, guava, gum, gumwood, hawthorn, hazel, hemlock, henna, hickory, holly, hop tree, horse chestnut, ink, ink-black, inkiness, inky, ironwood, jet, jetty, juniper, kumquat, laburnum, lancewood, larch, laurel, lemon, lime, linden, litchi, litchi nut, locust, logwood, magnolia, mahogany, mango, mangrove, maple, medlar, melanism, midnight, mountain ash, mulberry, night, night-black, night-clad, night-cloaked, night-dark, night-enshrouded, night-filled, night-mantled, night-veiled, nigrescence, nigritude, nigrous, nutmeg, oak, obfuscated, obscure, obscured, occulted, olive, orange, palm, papaw, papaya, peach, pear, pecan, persimmon, pine, pistachio, pitch, pitch-black, pitch-dark, pitchy, plane, plum, pomegranate, poplar, quince, raffia palm, rain tree, raven, raven-black, rayless, redwood, sable, sandalwood, sassafras, senna, sequoia, sloe, sloe-black, sloe-colored, smoke, smut, soot, spruce, starless, sumac, sunless, sycamore, tangerine, tar, tar-black, tarry, teak, tenebrious, tenebrose, tenebrous, tulip tree, unilluminated, unlighted, unlit, walnut, willow, witch hazel, yew

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ROGET THESAURUS

Ebony

Blackness

N blackness darkness, (want of light), swartliness, lividity, dark color, tone, color, chiaroscuro, nigrification, infuscation, jet, ink, ebony, coal pitch, soot, charcoal, sloe, smut, raven, crow, negro, blackamoor, man of color, nigger, darkie, Ethiop, black, buck, nigger, coon, sambo, lampblack, ivory black, blueblack, writing ink, printing ink, printer's ink, Indian ink, India ink, in mourning.

VB be black, render black, blacken, infuscate, denigrate, blot, blotch, smutch, smirch, darken, black, sable, swarthy, somber, dark, inky, ebony, ebon, atramentous, jetty, coal-black, jet-black, fuliginous, pitchy, sooty, swart, dusky, dingy, murky, Ethiopic, low-toned, low in tone, of the deepest dye, black as jet, black as my hat, black as a shoe, black as a tinker's pot, black as November, black as thunder, black as midnight, nocturnal, nigrescent, gray, obscure.

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