sandalwood Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun close-grained fragrant yellowish heartwood of the true sandalwood; has insect repelling properties and is used for carving and cabinetwork

F. sandal, santal, fr. Ar. &cced;andal, or Gr. sa`ntalon; both ultimately fr. Skr. candana. Cf. Sanders.

(Bot.) (a) The highly perfumed yellowish heartwood of an East Indian and Polynesian tree (Santalum album), and of several other trees of the same genus, as the Hawaiian Santalum Freycinetianum and S. pyrularium, the Australian S. latifolium, etc. The name is extended to several other kinds of fragrant wood. (b) Any tree of the genus Santalum, or a tree which yields sandalwood. (c) The red wood of a kind of buckthorn, used in Russia for dyeing leather (Rhamnus Dahuricus).