hardwood
English
Alternative forms
- hard wood
Etymology
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Noun
hardwood (countable and uncountable, plural hardwoods)
- (countable, mostly in botany and forestry) The wood from any dicotyledonous tree, without regard to its hardness.
- Balsa is a hardwood, but a soft hardwood.
- (countable) (in more general use) As the preceding but limited to those that are commercial timbers, and are at least average in hardness.
- Ash, hickory and oak are some of the most prominent domestic hardwoods.
- 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 10, in The Celebrity:
- Mr. Cooke had had a sloop yacht built at Far Harbor, the completion of which had been delayed, and which was but just delivered. […] The Maria had a cabin, which was finished in hard wood and yellow plush, and accommodations for keeping things cold.
- (countable, forestry) The tree or tree species that yields the preceding.
- This hardwood has been planted extensively throughout the hills here.
- (uncountable) A joint term for the commercial timbers, without distinguishing which.
- You should have used hardwood for this window sill instead of this junk.
- (sports, slang) The sport of basketball, in particular, an indoor basketball court; so named because the floor of an indoor basketball court is normally made of hardwood.
Translations
the wood from any dicotyledonous tree
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Adjective
hardwood (not comparable)
- Of a floor: made of interlocking hardwood boards.