logwood

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log·wood

 (lôg′wo͝od′, lŏg′-)
n.
1. A spiny tropical American tree (Haematoxylum campechianum) in the pea family, having dark heartwood from which a dyestuff is obtained.
2. The heartwood of this tree.
3. The dye obtained from the heartwood of this tree, used to dye cloth purple or deep black.

[So called because in the 1500s and 1600s, the very hard heartwood of logwood was shipped in large quantities from Mexico and the Antilles to Europe in the form of debarked logs, which were then processed by rasping in Europe to satisfy the demand for a colorfast dyestuff that could produce the deep black color fashionable at the time.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

logwood

(ˈlɒɡˌwʊd)
n
1. (Plants) a leguminous tree, Haematoxylon campechianum, of the Caribbean and Central America
2. (Plants) the heavy reddish-brown wood of this tree, yielding the dye haematoxylin. See also haematoxylon
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

log•wood

(ˈlɔgˌwʊd, ˈlɒg-)

n.
1. the heavy, brownish red heartwood of a West Indian and Central American tree, Haematoxylon campechianum, used in dyeing.
2. the tree itself.
[1575–85]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.logwood - very hard brown to brownish-red heartwood of a logwood treelogwood - very hard brown to brownish-red heartwood of a logwood tree; used in preparing a purplish red dye
campeachy, Haematoxylum campechianum, logwood tree, bloodwood tree, logwood - spiny shrub or small tree of Central America and West Indies having bipinnate leaves and racemes of small bright yellow flowers and yielding a hard brown or brownish-red heartwood used in preparing a black dye
wood - the hard fibrous lignified substance under the bark of trees
2.logwood - spiny shrub or small tree of Central America and West Indies having bipinnate leaves and racemes of small bright yellow flowers and yielding a hard brown or brownish-red heartwood used in preparing a black dyelogwood - spiny shrub or small tree of Central America and West Indies having bipinnate leaves and racemes of small bright yellow flowers and yielding a hard brown or brownish-red heartwood used in preparing a black dye
genus Haematoxylon, genus Haematoxylum, Haematoxylon, Haematoxylum - small genus of tropical American spiny bushy shrubs or trees
logwood - very hard brown to brownish-red heartwood of a logwood tree; used in preparing a purplish red dye
blackwood tree, blackwood - any of several hardwood trees yielding very dark-colored wood
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations
campechepalo campechepalo tinta
References in classic literature ?
My worthy brother was established twenty years ago in the mahogany and logwood trade at Belize, Honduras.
At one time they must have been full of good old slow West Indiamen of the square-stern type, that took their captivity, one imagines, as stolidly as they had faced the buffeting of the waves with their blunt, honest bows, and disgorged sugar, rum, molasses, coffee, or logwood sedately with their own winch and tackle.
1710; on the 14th we met with Captain Pocock, of Bristol, at Teneriffe, who was going to the bay of Campechy to cut logwood. On the 16th, he was parted from us by a storm; I heard since my return, that his ship foundered, and none escaped but one cabin boy.