ivory

Word family

i·vo·ry /ˈaɪvəri/ noun (plural ivories)

1 [uncountableU]HBAD the hard smooth yellowish-white substance from the tusks (=long teeth) of an elephant 象牙（质）

an ivory chess set

一副象牙国际象棋

2 [uncountableU]CC a yellowish-white colour 象牙色，乳白色

an ivory silk wedding gown

乳白色真丝婚纱

3 [countableC often plural]AVS something made of ivory, especially a small figure of a person or animal 象牙制品〔尤指小型人像或动物像〕

a collection of ivories

象牙制品藏品

Examples from the Corpus

ivory• Departmental barriers and ivory tower attitudes are detrimental to good results.• The city suits and ivory silk dinner jackets she gave to Franky.• Walrus tusks were essentially substitutes for ivory in territories remote from supplies of elephant tusks.• She tucked her ivory satin shirt tighter into the waistband of her fawn moleskin trousers.• Another example of an imported good with a widespread distribution is ivory, which normally occurs as rings.• It is the stuff of ivory towers and only clever boys and girls are expected to reflect upon its themes.• I argued in Chapter 5 that the image of the ivory tower in no way describes the contemporary position of higher education.• The ivory toothbrush is 3/4 of an inch long.

Origin ivory

(1200-1300) Old French ivoire, from Latin ebor, from Egyptian ab “elephant, ivory”

Chinese

Syllable

Corpus