pearwoodn.
/ˈpɛːˌwʊd/, U.S. /ˈpɛrˌwʊd/ 1. The wood of the pear tree, Pyrus communis.
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society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > wood > wood of specific trees > [noun] > wood of fruit trees > pear
pear treec1350
pearwood1730
pear1831
1730 N. Bailey Dictionarium Britannicum at Almacantor An Instrument of Box or Pear Wood.
1854 C. Fox Amer. Text Bk. of Pract. & Sci. Agric. p. cccxlv Pear-wood and leaves.
1879 S. Baring-Gould Germany II. 359 Most of the carving was done in pearwood, which readily attracts the worm.
1907 E. Rowe Pract. Woodcarving 16 Boxwood, pearwood, sandalwood and satinwood are best suited to figures and fine, delicate work.
1923 Geogr. Jrnl. 62 360 He made a model in pear-wood to illustrate his proposal.
1952 J. Gloag Short Dict. Furnit. 353 Pearwood (Pyrus comminus). This fruit wood..supplies a hard, close-grained, easily worked material... It is used chiefly for inlaying and for carved ornament.
1993 Antique Collecting Feb. 7/2 A pearwood side table with a wonderful colour.
2. Chiefly with distinguishing word: the wood of any of several African trees, esp. (in full African pearwood) that of Manilkara obovata and Minus djave (both family Sapotaceae).Nigerian pearwood: see Nigerian n. and adj. Compounds.
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society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > wood > wood of specific trees > [noun] > other woods of African trees > West African
pearwood1902
Gaboon1920
guarea1936
makoré1936
idigbo1942
limba1955
ovangkol1972
agboin1974
1879 Proc. Royal Geogr. Soc. 1 326 Unlike the useless scrub of the Tugela Valley, there is valuable timber of yellow-wood, stink-wood, red and white pear, boken-wood, and some others.]
1902 G. S. Boulger Wood 272 Pearwood, White (Pterocelàstrus rostràtus Walp.: Order Celastràceæ). South Africa. Zulu ‘Umdogan’... Moderately heavy, strong and durable. Much used for felloes and other waggon work.
1915 J. H. Holland Useful Plants Nigeria III. 419 One of the finest timber trees in W. Africa [is Mimusops Djave], sold in Europe as ‘African Pear Wood’.
1922 W. Schlich Man. Forestry (ed. 4) I. ii. 320 The most prominent species [in Sierra Leone] are given as:—..red ironwood, very common. A species of Mimusops known as pearwood [etc.].
1950 C. W. Bond Colonial Timbers 77 Guarea (Nigerian pearwood).
1990 D. K. Abbiw Useful Plants Ghana vii. 108 Others [sc. timbers for carving mortars] are..Lophira alata Red Ironwood (Kaku); Manilkara multinervis subsp. lacera... African Pearwood (also for bowls) [etc.].
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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