Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A large deciduous tree (Tectona grandis) in the mint family, native to tropical South and Southeast Asia, having hard, heavy, durable yellowish-brown wood.
  • noun The wood of this tree, used especially for furniture and in shipbuilding.
  • noun A grayish yellowish brown or grayish to moderate brown.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An East Indian timber-tree, Tectona grandis, or its wood.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) A tree of East Indies (Tectona grandis) which furnishes an extremely strong and durable timber highly valued for shipbuilding and other purposes; also, the timber of the tree.
  • noun a tree (Oldfieldia Africana) of Sierra Leone; also, its very heavy and durable wood; -- called also African oak.
  • noun a large tree (Vitex littoralis) of New Zeland; also, its hard, durable timber.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun uncountable An extremely durable timber highly valued for shipbuilding and other purposes, yielded by Tectona grandis (and Tectona spp.).
  • noun countable A tree of the species in the genus Tectona
  • noun uncountable A yellowish brown colour, like that of teak wood.
  • adjective Of a yellowish brown colour, like that of teak wood.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun hard strong durable yellowish-brown wood of teak trees; resistant to insects and to warping; used for furniture and in shipbuilding
  • noun tall East Indian timber tree now planted in western Africa and tropical America for its hard durable wood

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Portuguese teca, from Malayalam tēkka.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Portuguese teca, from Malayalam തേക്കു് or Tamil தேக்கு (tēkku).

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Examples

  • The chair handmade in teak & leather is an experiment to evoke emotions that emerge in these modern times of straight line mass productible furniture.

    The Fish Tail Chair by Asad Firdosy 2008

  • Give your next PC all the style of fine furniture or a sleek sailboat by having it encased in teak or mahogany.

    Computer Meets Coffee Table | Impact Lab 2007

  • The interior was trimmed in teak, as was the companionway leading into the cabin.

    Bijou's Odyssey 2006

  • The interior was trimmed in teak, as was the companionway leading into the cabin.

    Bijou's Odyssey 2006

  • Then when it dries you use special oil called teak oil.

    Priceless Mariah Stewart 1999

  • Then when it dries you use special oil called teak oil.

    Priceless Mariah Stewart 1999

  • Slow growing trees such as teak and many other hardwoods will be cut down and not replanted when interest rates are even moderately high.

    Rate of interest 2007

  • (The tabletop, bought from Seattle dealer David Smith, is made of Indonesian teak, which is expensive, "but it's a tropical hardwood, so it'll last forever," says Ed. He hated the table's original base, so he tore it off and replaced it with plain steel legs.

    Our Life As A House 2007

  • Moreover, the bigger trees such as teak and cedar provide ideal conditions for the smaller cocoa trees which grow best in the shade, while the roots of the bigger trees oxygenate the soil.

    Global Warming RSS Newsfeed info@ecologicalinternet.org (Agence France-Presse: 2010

  • Moreover, the bigger trees such as teak and cedar provide ideal conditions for the smaller cocoa trees which grow best in the shade, while the roots of the bigger trees oxygenate the soil.

    News24 Top Stories 2010

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