Definition of "shagreen" []

• The rough hide of a shark or ray, covered with numerous bony denticles and used as an abrasive and as leather. (noun)
• An untanned leather with a granular surface that is often dyed green. (noun)

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.

• "The form of the animal is preserved by an entire cartilaginous case, of about three inches in thickness, covered by a kind of shagreen skin, so amalgamated with the cartilage as not to be separated from it."
• "Tendons, or stout fish-skin such as shagreen, may also be used on the same principle."
• "I unclasped the shagreen case; the sergent-de-ville and the gendarme stole up and looked over my shoulder; the garçon drew near with round eyes; the little woman peeped across; the merchant, with tears streaming over his face, gazed as if it had been a loadstone; finally, I looked myself."