Definitions

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

  • adjective Consisting of or having the texture or appearance of wood; woody.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Consisting of or resembling wood; wooden; woody; in botany, having a wood-like texture; woody, as distinguished from herbaceous. Also lignose.

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

  • adjective Made of wood; consisting of wood; of the nature of, or resembling, wood; woody.
  • adjective wood coated or prepared so as to resemble marble.

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

  • adjective Of, or resembling wood; woody.
  • adjective botany Containing lignin or xylem.

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

  • adjective consisting of or containing lignin or xylem

Etymologies

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

[From Latin ligneus, from lignum, wood; see leg- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

lign-e-ous

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Examples

  • And in the land and beneath it put he crude oil, grades one through six; and natural gas put he thereunder, and prehistoric carboniferous forests yielding anthracite and other ligneous matter; and all these called he Resources; and he made them Abundant.

    Tony Hendra: Not The Bible -- The Ultimate and Eternal Parody 2009

  • The manufacture of a hand-saw cost infinite trouble, but at last an instrument was obtained which, when vigorously handled, could divide the ligneous fibers of the wood.

    The Mysterious Island 2005

  • These trees produce ligneous roots which, when cooked, are excellent; from them, by fermentation, a very agreeable liquor is made.

    The Mysterious Island 2005

  • The manufacture of a hand-saw cost infinite trouble, but at last an instrument was obtained which, when vigorously handled, could divide the ligneous fibers of the wood.

    The Mysterious Island 2005

  • The Greeks left a soldier behind, pretending he was now a non-combatant, to convince the Trojans that if they didn't carry the ligneous steed back into fortified Troy, the Trojans themselves would risk the wrath of the goddess Athena.

    Archive 2005-04-01 Michael Caddell 2005

  • These trees produce ligneous roots which, when cooked, are excellent; from them, by fermentation, a very agreeable liquor is made.

    The Mysterious Island 2005

  • The Greeks left a soldier behind, pretending he was now a non-combatant, to convince the Trojans that if they didn't carry the ligneous steed back into fortified Troy, the Trojans themselves would risk the wrath of the goddess Athena.

    "Naming names and telling it like it is." Michael Caddell 2005

  • Each of the laminae can be seen to be composed of two, three, or four layers of ligneous tubes; but supposing each ring the growth of one year, and the semidiameter of a mowana of one hundred feet in circumference about seventeen feet, if the central point were in the centre of the tree, then its age would lack some centuries of being as old as the

    Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa 2004

  • Much impressed by this family circumstance, and also by the friendly disposition of Mr Wegg, as exemplified in his so soon dropping into poetry, Mr Boffin again shook hands with that ligneous sharper, and besought him to name his hour.

    Our Mutual Friend 2004

  • When, however, an animal is of large size, and feeds on substances of so thorny and ligneous a character as to be difficult of concoction, it may in consequence have several stomachs, as for instance is the case with the camel.

    On the Parts of Animals 2002

Comments

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  • "Phaedre's beautiful face might have been carved of fruitwood; normally a delicate cinnamon, her complexion had faded to a pale, ligneous brown, and her eyes stared fixedly through the open door of the pantry at the blank wall beyond."

    —Diana Gabaldon, The Fiery Cross (NY: Bantam Dell, 2001), 740

    January 26, 2010