Definition of "ebony" []

• Any of various tropical Asian or African trees of the genus Diospyros. (noun)
• 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. (noun)
• The hard dark wood of various other trees. (noun)
• The color black; ebon. (noun)
• Made of or suggesting ebony. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "It was fearfully swelled (in those days our coat-sleeves were made very large), and as black as ebony from the shoulder to the wrist."
• "A sumptuous Russian sleigh drawn by two splendid black horses, with a statuesque driver in ebony handling the ribbons, attracted the attention of the crowd as it dashed down the avenue and paused near the capitol steps."
• "They were like young and beautiful Dantes carved in ebony; Dantes unembittered by the world, unsicklied by the pale cast of thought, and glowing with the life of the warm South."