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coral

 - 6 dictionary results

cor⋅al

[kawr-uhl, kor-]
–noun
1. the hard, variously colored, calcareous skeleton secreted by certain marine polyps.
2. such skeletons collectively, forming reefs, islands, etc.
3. the solitary or colonial polyp that secretes this calcareous skeleton.
4. a reddish yellow; light yellowish red; pinkish yellow.
5. the unimpregnated roe or eggs of the lobster that when boiled take on the color of red coral.
6. something made of coral, as an ornament, piece of jewelry, or a child's toy.
–adjective
7. made of coral: a coral reef; coral ornamentation.
8. making coral: a coral polyp.
9. resembling coral, esp. in color; yellowish-red.

Origin:
1275–1325; ME coral(l) < L corāll(i)um < Gk korllion red coral, equiv. to korall- (< Sem; cf. Heb gōrāl pebble) + -ion dim. suffix


cor⋅al⋅like, adjective

Cor⋅al

[kawr-uhl, kor-]
–noun
a female given name.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To coral
cor·al   (kôr'əl, kŏr'-)   
n.  
    1. A rocklike deposit consisting of the calcareous skeletons secreted by various anthozoans. Coral deposits often accumulate to form reefs or islands in warm seas.

    2. Any of numerous chiefly colonial marine polyps of the class Anthozoa that secrete such calcareous skeletons.

    3. The red-orange, pinkish, or white deposits secreted by corals of the genus Corallium, used to make jewelry and ornaments.

    4. An object made of this material.

  1. A deep or strong pink to moderate red or reddish orange.

  2. The unfertilized eggs of a female lobster, which turn a reddish color when cooked.

adj.  Of a deep or strong pink to moderate red or reddish orange.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin corallium, from Greek korallion.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

coral 
c.1305, from L. corallium, from Gk. korallion, probably of Sem. origin (cf. Heb. goral "small pebble," Ar. garal "small stone"), originally just the red variety found in the Mediterranean, hence use of the word as a symbol of "red." Coral snake (1760) is so called for the red zones in its markings.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Computing Dictionary

CORAL
1. Class Oriented Ring Associated Language.
2. A deductive database and logic programming system based on Horn-clause rules with extensions like SQL's group-by and aggregation operators. CORAL was developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It is implemented in C++ and has a Prolog-like syntax.
Many evaluation techniques are supported, including bottom-up fixpoint evaluation and top-down backtracking. Modules are separately compiled; different evaluation methods can be used in different modules within a single program. Disk-resident data is supported via an interface to the Exodus storage manager. There is an on-line help facility. It requires AT&T C++ 2.0 (or G++ soon) and runs on Decstation and Sun-4.
(ftp://ftp.cs.wisc.edu/).
(1993-01-29)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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Bible Dictionary

Coral

Heb. ramoth, meaning "heights;" i.e., "high-priced" or valuable things, or, as some suppose, "that which grows high," like a tree (Job 28:18; Ezek. 27:16), according to the Rabbins, red coral, which was in use for ornaments. The coral is a cretaceous marine product, the deposit by minute polypous animals of calcareous matter in cells in which the animal lives. It is of numberless shapes as it grows, but usually is branched like a tree. Great coral reefs and coral islands abound in the Red Sea, whence probably the Hebrews derived their knowledge of it. It is found of different colours, white, black, and red. The red, being esteemed the most precious, was used, as noticed above, for ornamental purposes.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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