Sentence:  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 <WSD>veneer</WSD> had come cleanly away, [...]. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A thin decorative covering of fine material (usually wood) applied to coarser wood or other material.