From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishivoryi‧vo‧ry /ˈaɪvəri/ ●○○ noun (plural ivories) 1 [uncountable]HBAD the hard smooth yellowish-white substance from the tusks (=long teeth) of an elephant an ivory chess set2 [uncountable]CC a yellowish-white colour an ivory silk wedding gown3 [countable often plural]AVS something made of ivory, especially a small figure of a person or animal a collection of ivories
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” 