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ebony - 6 dictionary results
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eb⋅on⋅y

  [eb-uh-nee] noun, plural -on⋅ies, adjective
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–noun
1. a hard, heavy, durable wood, most highly prized when black, from various tropical trees of the genus Diospyros, as D. ebenum of southern India and Sri Lanka, used for cabinetwork, ornamental objects, etc.
2. any tree yielding such wood.
3. any of various similar woods or trees.
4. a deep, lustrous black.
–adjective
5. Also, ebon. made of ebony.
6. of a deep, lustrous black.
Origin:
1590–1600; earlier hebeny; see ebon; -y perh. after ivory
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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eb·on·y   (ěb'ə-nē)   
n.   pl. eb·on·ies
  1. Any of various tropical Asian or African trees of the genus Diospyros.
  2. The wood of such a tree, especially the hard black heartwood of D. ebenum or certain other species, used in cabinetwork and inlaying and for piano keys.
  3. The hard dark wood of various other trees.
  4. The color black; ebon.
adj.  
  1. Made of or suggesting ebony.
  2. Black in color.

[Probably from Middle English hebenyf, ebony wood, from alteration of Late Latin hebeninus, of ebony, from Greek ebeninos, from ebenos, ebony tree, from Egyptian hbny.]
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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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.

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.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : ebony
Spanish: ébano,
German: das Ebenholz,
Japanese: 黒たん
More Translations »

ebony 
1597, from hebenyf (1384), M.E. misreading L. hebenius "of ebony," from Gk. ebenios, from ebenos "ebony," probably from Egyp. hbnj or another Sem. source. Fig. use to suggest intense blackness is from 1623.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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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.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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