harewood

noun

1

: a greenish gray figured cabinet wood obtained by chemical treatment and dyeing of sycamore maple and sometimes other maples

called also gray harewood

2

: a strongly figured tropical American wood initially yellow but seasoning to silvery gray with greenish markings, obtained from a tree of the genus Xanthoxylum, and much used by 18th century cabinetmakers but now rarely available

Word History

Etymology

alteration of earlier aire-wood, from obsolete English ayre, ayer harewood (perhaps from Friulian ayar maple tree, from Latin acer) + English wood

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