ebonies

Noun

ebony (usually uncountable, plural ebonies)

1. (usually) A hard, dense, deep black wood from various subtropical and tropical trees, especially of the genus Diospyros.
2. (countable, usually) A tree that yields such wood.
   • “You live up the road past the ebony tree, right?” he asked, looking past me.2018, Nnedi Okorafor, Who Fears Death, HarperVoyager, page 51
3. (countable, uncountable, usually) A deep, dark black colour.
   • Near-synonyms: onyx, raven

   Synonyms:

   onyx, raven

4. (usually) Dark skin colour.
   • At dawn the hunters were off. There were fifty sleek, black warriors, and in their midst, lithe and active as a young forest god, strode Tarzan of the Apes, his brown skin contrasting oddly with the ebony of his companions. Except for color he was one of them.1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 130
5. (countable, usually) A black key on a piano or other keyboard instrument (as opposed to ivory).
   • Ebony and ivory / Live together in perfect harmony / Side by side on my piano keyboard / Oh lord, why don't we?1982, Paul McCartney, “Ebony and Ivory”, in Tug of War, performed by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder

See all 10 meanings of ebony