bra·zil·wood

(brə-zĭl′wo͝od′)

The reddish wood of certain tropical trees or shrubs in the pea family, especially the Brazilian tree Caesalpinia echinata, used for violin bows and as a source of a red or purplish dye.

[Obsolete brazil, brazilwood (from Middle English brasile, an Asian variety of brazilwood, ultimately, partly via Medieval Latin brasilium, from Old Spanish brasil, from brasa, hot coals (in reference to its color), of Germanic origin; see bhreu- in Indo-European roots) + wood.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

bra•zil•wood

(brəˈzɪlˌwʊd)

n.

1. any of several tropical trees of the genus Caesalpinia, of the legume family, as C. echinata, having a wood used to make violins and from which a red dye is obtained.

2. the wood of such a tree.

[1550–60; brazil brazilwood (Middle English brasile < Medieval Latin < Italian < Sp brasil, derivative of brasa live coal < Germanic]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	brazilwood - heavy wood of various brazilwood trees; used for violin bows and as dyewoods Caesalpinia echinata, peachwood, peach-wood, pernambuco wood, brazilwood - tropical tree with prickly trunk; its heavy red wood yields a red dye and is used for cabinetry wood - the hard fibrous lignified substance under the bark of trees
	2.	brazilwood - tropical tree with prickly trunk; its heavy red wood yields a red dye and is used for cabinetry Caesalpinia echinata, peachwood, peach-wood, pernambuco wood Caesalpinia, genus Caesalpinia - small spiny tropical trees or shrubs; includes the small genus or subgenus Poinciana brazilwood - heavy wood of various brazilwood trees; used for violin bows and as dyewoods tree - a tall perennial woody plant having a main trunk and branches forming a distinct elevated crown; includes both gymnosperms and angiosperms

Translations

palo Brasilpau-Brasilpernambuco

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

It harbors a large concentration of Brazilwood (Paubrasilia echinata), an endangered species (Varty 1998).

NEW RECORDS OF Micronycteris schmidtorum SANBORN, 1935 (PHYLLOSTOMIDAE, CHIROPTERA) FOR NORTHEASTERN BRAZIL

(Brazilwood) seeds, an endangered leguminous tree from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest.

Storage of Calophyllum brasiliense Cambess. seeds/ Armazenamento de sementes de Calophyllum brasiliense Cambess

Morphological and physiological adjustments of Brazilwood (Caesalpinia echinata Lam.) to direct solar radiation.

Sensitivity to environmental stress of prata, japira and vitoria banana cultivars proven by chlorophyll a fluorescence/Sensibilidade ao estresse ambiental em bananeira comprovada pela fluorescencia da clorofila a

Saffron Walden is so called for its cultivation of crocuses, used for yellows, and Brazil gains its name from South America's plentiful stock of brazilwood, a source of rich reds: lignum brasilium means wood which glows like embers.

Light embodied: an outstanding exhibition of medieval illuminations dazzles

Among the topics are representing the Tupinamba and the Brazilwood trade in 16th-century Rouen, Bernardi's L'Amazone as a post-Enlightenment Brazilian Utopia, critical transfers between Brazil and France and the 19th-century press, Brazilian bandidos after French antiheroes, and Niemeyer's headquarters for the French Communist Party 1965-80.

Cultural Exchanges Between Brazil and France

(2005) have reported that stem diameter of brazilwood (Caesalpinia echinata Lam.) seedlings has not presented statistically significant differences on results obtained for this parameter when the seedlings of this species were developed under full sunlight, or 20 and 40% shading; nevertheless, when grown under 60 or 80% shading, the seedlings have shown higher values for stem diameter; however these values were not statistically different between each other.

Light intensity and type of container on producing Cassia grandis L. f. seedlings/Intensidade da luz e do tamanho do recipiente na producao de mudas de Cassia grandis L. f

farnesiana (huizache, acacia), Haematoxylum brasiletto (Brazilwood), Pithecellobium dulce (guamuchil), and Alvaradoa amorphoides (guachipil; Jimenez Salmeron and Garcia, 2002), in addition to field crops like tamarind (Tamarindus indica), peanut (Arachis hypogaea), mango (Mangifera indica), and corn (Zea mays).

Habitat use and reproduction of mammals from Tlaxmalac, at Balsas River basin, Guerrero, Mexico

Brazilwood was taken for its red dye, which the Dutch used on their canvas sails as a deterrence to mold.

After the ax: following decades of unbridled clear-cutting, a tiny Caribbean Island begins its botanical comeback

Molina gave attendees a brief history lesson on the country, noting that the country derives its name from the brazilwood tree, which was its earliest commercially-exploited product.

The beauty of Brazil: yes, there's the rainforest and biodiversity, but the country is about so much more, as cosmetic chemists found out at the recent symposium developed by the New York Chapter of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists

The trade or traffic which the Indians of Guiana carry on with the Dutch consists chiefly in slaves, earthen jars, canoes, hammocks, baskets, Brazilwood, hiaree-roots, macaws, parrots, monkeys, balsam capivi, arracocerra, caraba or crab oil, and arnotta, for which they receive in return checquered cloth, fire-arms, gunpowder, hatchets, knives, scissars, different coloured beads, looking-glasses, fish-hooks, combs, needles, pins &c.

Portuguese Jews, Amerindians, and the frontiers of encounter in colonial Suriname