HARDWOOD

hardwood

(noun) the wood of broad-leaved dicotyledonous trees (as distinguished from the wood of conifers)

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

hardwood (countable and uncountable, plural hardwoods)

(countable, mostly in botany and forestry) The wood from any dicotyledonous tree, without regard to its hardness.

(countable) (in more general use) As the preceding but limited to those that are commercial timbers, and are at least average in hardness.

(countable, forestry) The tree or tree species that yields the preceding.

(uncountable) A joint term for the commercial timbers, without distinguishing which.

(sports, slang) The sport of basketball, in particular, an indoor basketball court; so named because the floor of an indoor basketball court is normally made of hardwood.

Adjective

hardwood (not comparable)

Of a floor: made of interlocking hardwood boards.

Source: Wiktionary