mahogany
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /məˈhɒɡəni/
ipa: /məˈhɑɡəni/
rhymes: -ɒɡəni
Forms: form: mahoganies
form: mahoganey
form: mahoganee
form: mahogeney
form: mahogeny
form: mohogeny
form: mohogeney
form: mahagony
form: mahagoney
Etymology: A word of unknown origin, concocted in either English or Middle Dutch from one or more exotic phytonyms and common European words.
Alternatively from Portuguese mogano, mógono, obsolete forms of mogno, itself of unknown origin (often suggested to be from the English word instead of the reverse), perhaps from an extinct indigenous language, such as a Mayan language originally spoken in Honduras or a South American language, but no known cognates survive. Another theory attempts to link Yoruba moganwo (“trees”, literally “tall ones”), but this has been criticized.
Senses: examples: text: A very neat old woman, still in her good outdoor coat and best beehive hat, was sitting at a polished mahogany table on whose surface there were several scored scratches so deep that a triangular piece of the veneer had come cleanly away[…].
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
text: In 2003, at Neal Auction Company in New Orleans, an 1810s mahogany armoire inlaid with ribbons and vines brought $140,000 (the presale estimate was $30,000 to $50,000).
ref: 2010 December 9, Eve M. Kahn, “Exploring the Art of Louisiana Furniture”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 18 Jun 2020:
glosses: The valuable wood of any of various tropical American evergreen trees, of the genus Swietenia, mostly used to make furniture.
glosses: Any of the trees from which such wood comes.
glosses: (by extension) Any of various trees which resemble those of the genus Swietenia.
examples: text: William Murdoch […] produced a bottle of port; but I chose mahogany (two parts gin and one part treacle, which Lord Eliot made us at Sir Joshua Reynolds's as a Cornish liquor, but it seems they make it also with brandy, and often add porter to it).
ref: 1792, James Boswell, in Danziger & Brady (eds.), Boswell: The Great Biographer (Journals 1789–1795), Yale 1989, p. 178
glosses: A Cornish drink made from gin and treacle.
examples: text: Better she, my dear, than a black Mrs. Sedley, and a dozen of mahogany grandchildren.
ref: 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 6, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:
glosses: A reddish-brown color, like that of mahogany wood.
examples: text: Poets eat and drink without stint — and seldom at their own cost — for what man of mark or likelihood in the moneyed world is there, who is not eager to get their legs under his mahogany?
ref: 1842, Dublin University Magazine: A Literary and Political Journal:
text: Yet habit—strange thing! what cannot habit accomplish?—Gayer sallies, more merry mirth, better jokes, and brighter repartees, you never heard over your mahogany […]
ref: 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
glosses: A table made from mahogany wood; a dining table.
Derived terms: taxonomic: Khaya senegalensis
word: African mahogany
taxonomic: Entandrophragma cylindricum
word: African scented mahogany
taxonomic: Swietenia mahagoni
word: American mahogany
taxonomic: Dysoxylum rufum
word: Australian mahogany
alt: Eucalyptus botryoides or Matayba apetala
word: bastard mahogany
word: below the mahogany
word: birch-leaf mahogany
word: birch leaf mahogany
taxonomic: Cercocarpus betuloides
word: birchleaf mahogany
taxonomic: Swietenia humilis
word: black mahogany
taxonomic: Hibiscus elatus
word: blue mahogany
alt: Cariniana legalis; Plathymenia foliolosa, Plathymenia reticulata
word: Brazilian mahogany
taxonomic: Lovoa swynnertonii
word: brown mahogany
taxonomic: Pentace burmanica
word: Burma mahogany
taxonomic: Entandrophragma cylindricum
word: cedar mahogany
taxonomic: Mimusops leckellii
word: cherry mahogany
taxonomic: Cariniana pyriformis
word: Colombian mahogany
alt: Swietinia spp.
word: Cuban mahogany
taxonomic: Cercocarpus ledifolius
word: desert mahogany
alt: Swietinia mahogani
word: Dominican mahogany
taxonomic: Khaya senegalensis
word: dry zone mahogany
taxonomic: Persea borbonia
word: Florida mahogany
taxonomic: Eucalyptus spp.
word: forest mahogany
taxonomic: Aucoumea klaineana
word: gaboon mahogany
taxonomic: Khaya senegalensis
word: Gambia mahogany
taxonomic: Swietenia humilis
word: ground mahogany
taxonomic: Acacia koa
word: Hawaiian mahogany
taxonomic: Swietenia macrophylla
word: Honduras mahogany
taxonomic: Swietenia macrophylla
word: Honduran mahogany
taxonomic: Lysiloma sabicu
word: horseflesh mahogany
taxonomic: Chukrasia velutina
word: Indian mahogany
taxonomic: Persea indica
word: Madeira mahogany
word: mahoganize
word: mahogany acid
taxonomic: Seymeria quanzensis
word: mahogany bean
taxonomic: Monarda didyma
word: mahogany beebalm
taxonomic: Betula lenta
word: mahogany birch
word: mahogany browning
word: mahogany clam
word: mahogany flat
word: mahogany gaspipe
taxonomic: Petaurus gracilis
word: mahogany glider
english: especially Eucalyptus marginata
translation: especially Eucalyptus marginata
taxonomic: Eucalyptus spp.
word: mahogany gum
taxonomic: Iris kaempferi
word: mahogany Japanese iris
taxonomic: Lilium maculatum
word: mahogany lily
word: mahogany lung
taxonomic: Paeonia lactiflora
word: mahogany peony
taxonomic: Podocarpus totara
word: mahogany pine
word: mahogany quahog
word: mahogany rot
word: mahogany row
alt: Lutanus mahogoni
word: mahogany snapper
word: mahogany soap
word: mahogany Spitfire
taxonomic: Tlalocohyla loquax
word: mahogany tree frog
word: mahoganyware
taxonomic: Monarda didyma
word: monarda mahogany
taxonomic: Cercocarpus spp.
word: mountain mahogany
alt: Trichila dregeana, Trichila emetica
word: Natal mahogany
taxonomic: Swietenia humilis
word: Pacific Coast mahogany
taxonomic: Shorea negrosensis
word: Philipine red mahogany
taxonomic: Toona calantas
word: Philippine mahogany
taxonomic: Guarea cedrata
word: pink mahogany
taxonomic: Seymeria quanzensis
word: pod mahogany
word: put one's legs under someone's mahogany
taxonomic: Khaya anthotheca
word: red mahogany
taxonomic: Afzelia quanzensis
word: Rhodesian mahogany
taxonomic: Dysoxylum fraserianum
word: rose mahogany
taxonomic: Dysoxylum rufum
word: rusty mahogany
taxonomic: Myroxylon balsanum
word: Santos mahogany
taxonomic: Entandrophragma cylindricum
word: sapele mahogany
taxonomic: Entandrophragma cylindricum
word: scented mahogany
taxonomic: Khaya senegalensis
word: Senegal mahogany
taxonomic: Entandrophragma utile
word: sipo mahogany
taxonomic: Swietenia mahagoni
word: small-leaved mahogany
word: southern mahogany
taxonomic: Swietenia macrophylla
word: Spanish mahogany
taxonomic: Eucalyptus robusta
word: swamp mahogany
taxonomic: Swietenia macrophylla
word: Tabasco mahogany
english: especially Swietenia mahogani
translation: especially Swietenia mahogani
taxonomic: Swietenia spp.
word: true mahogany
word: under the mahogany
taxonomic: Swietenia mahagoni
word: West Indian mahogany
english: from Roseodendron donnell-smithii
translation: from Roseodendron donnell-smithii
word: white mahogany
taxonomic: Khaya anthotheca
word: white mahogany
taxonomic: Epicharis parasitica
alt: syn. Dysoxylum parasiticum
word: yellow mahogany