ironwood
ironwood Lexical Profile
ironwood Game Scores & Validity
• noun
The exceptionally hard, heavy, and dense wood yielded by these trees, highly valued for tool handles, carvings, and specialized structural parts.
"The artisan selected a beautifully polished piece of ironwood to carve the handle of the custom knife."
Any of numerous unrelated species of trees or shrubs that produce exceptionally hard, dense timber, such as the American hophornbeam or the desert ironwood native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico.
"While hiking through the Sonoran Desert, the botanist paused to study the distinctive pale purple flowers blooming on an ancient ironwood."
Word Origin & Etymology
Formed as a compound of 'iron' and 'wood', coined to describe various unrelated tree species whose timber is exceptionally hard, dense, and heavy, often to the point of sinking in water.