Ruel-bone
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A piece of ivory, generally from a marine mammal. archaic, literary
"RUEL-BONE Is mentioned by Chaucer, and in the following passage, as the material of a saddle. It is not, of course, to be thence supposed that ruel-bone was commonly or even actually used for that purpose,[…]"
Example
More examples"RUEL-BONE Is mentioned by Chaucer, and in the following passage, as the material of a saddle. It is not, of course, to be thence supposed that ruel-bone was commonly or even actually used for that purpose,[…]"
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Middle English rewell bon, ruel bon (“walrus ivory”), from Old French roal, rohal (“walrus ivory”), ultimately from Old Norse hrosshvalr (“walrus”).
More for "ruel-bone"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.