ivory

Etymology

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”). Displaced native Old English elpendbān (literally “elephant bone”).

noun

1. (uncountable) The hard white form of dentin which forms the tusks of elephants, walruses and other animals.
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.
   Coordinate term: ebony
   to tickle the ivories
6. (slang) A white person.
7. (informal) A die (object bearing numbers, thrown in games of chance).
   (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.

adj

1. Made of ivory.
   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. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 10, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
2. Resembling or having the colour of ivory.
   The walls and ceiling of this drawing-room in Montague Square are painted ivory. 1938, Interior Decoration To-day, page 132