Definition of "lignum" [lignum]

• Wood, as contrasted with soft tissues or with bark; that part of exogenous plants which comprises the alburnum and the duramen. (noun)
• A contraction for lignum-vitæ: applied in Australia to several species of trees because of their tough and hard wood. See the Australian species mentioned under lignum-vitæ. (noun)
• Any species of the wiry plants of the genus Polygonum. (noun)

The Century Dictionary (Public Domain)

• "These are the same batch of balls as used hitherto but the overhead conditions are different, with the suffocating low cloud of St John's Wood and the humidity of Trent Bridge replaced by a buffeting cross-wind that eventually forced the umpires to call for the heavy lignum vitae bails."
• "That statement is true, because the lignum block at the bottom of the pond displaces however much water would have filled that volume of space on the bottom, except that the lignum is heavier and has moved it."
• "A rock that sinks — or, for that matter, a chunk of heavy wood, like lignum vitae — is heavier than the water it displaces."