noun
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any of various trees having offensive-smelling wood, esp Ocotea bullata, a southern African lauraceous tree yielding a hard wood used for furniture
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the heavy durable wood of any of these trees
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Also called (NZ): hupiro. a New Zealand shrub or small tree, Coprosma foetidissima , whose leaves give off an unpleasant smell when they are crushed
Etymology
Origin of stinkwood
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
South Africa’s cave openings can be hard to spot, but many have wild olive and white stinkwood trees growing near them.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 20, 2016
Having already returned from an early morning’s filming, Uncle John would sit at the head of a large stinkwood table, pour his muesli, and cut a very ripe banana into it.
From Salon ● Dec. 7, 2013
A great-grandfather of Ms. Robinson’s, a mining engineer who worked for De Beers, brought the stinkwood dining table back from South Africa.
From New York Times ● Jan. 15, 2011
Technically, of course, the A.N.C. leaders had not entered Rhodesia for last week's meeting, since they sat on the Zambian side of the stinkwood table.
From Time Magazine Archive
There were camphor trees and teaks and African cedars and red stinkwood trees, and here and there a dark green cloud of leaves mushroomed above the forest canopy.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
