ruel-bone
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Learned borrowing from Middle English rewell bon, ruel bon (“walrus ivory”), from Old French roal, rohal (“walrus ivory”), ultimately from Old Norse hrosshvalr (“walrus”).
Noun[edit]
ruel-bone (plural ruel-bones)
- (archaic, literary) A piece of ivory, generally from a marine mammal.
- 1962, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Sea-Bell:
- White it glimmered, and the sea shimmered
with star-mirrors in a silver net;
cliffs of stone pale as ruel-bone
in the moon-foam were gleaming wet.
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