Meanings
plural ruel-bones
- archaicliteraryA piece of ivory, generally from a marine mammal.
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.
1962, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Sea-Bell1 more example
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,[…]
1850, James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps, A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, Obsolete Phrases, Proverbs, and Ancient Customs, from the Fourteenth Century, page 697
Origin
- Old Norsehrosshvalr“walrus”
- Old Frenchroal
- Middle Englishrewell bon
- Englishruel-bone
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 words from Middle English, Old French, Old Norse
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
ruel-bone. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ruel-bone
“ruel-bone.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ruel-bone. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ruel-bone,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ruel-bone.
Source: ruel-bone on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.