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duramen

[doo-rey-min, dyoo-]
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noun Botany.
  1. heartwood.
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Origin of duramen

1830–40; < Latin dūrāmen hardness, hardened vine branch, equivalent to dūrā(re) to harden + -men noun suffix
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for duramen

Historical Examples

  • The duramen or heartwood is the inner, darker part of the log.

    Seasoning of Wood

    Joseph B. Wagner

  • Save for colour they might have been congealed water or duramen muscles.

  • Duramen, the name given by botanists to the central wood or heart-wood in a tree trunk.

British Dictionary definitions for duramen

duramen

noun
  1. another name for heartwood
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Word Origin

C19: from Latin: hardness, from dūrāre to harden
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012