Logwood

[f. LOG sb.¹ + WOOD.]

  † 1.  Logs stored for fuel. Obs.

1666.  Pepys, Diary, 1 Dec. It seemed to be only of logwood that hath kept the fire all this while in it.

  2.  The heartwood of an American tree (Hæmatoxylon Campechianum) used in dyeing; so called from being imported in the form of logs.

  It is used to some extent in medicine as an astringent. The alleged use of logwood in coloring spurious or adulterated port wine was at one time a frequent subject of jocular allusion.

1581.  Act 23 Eliz., c. 9 § 1. There hathe byn brought … from beyonde the Seas … Stuffe called Logwood alias Blockewood.

1597–1602.  W. Riding Sessions Rolls, in Yorksh. Arch. & Topogr. Assoc. (Record Ser.), III. 174. In dying wooll & Wollen clothe Logwoodd alias Blockwood.

1641.  Evelyn, Mem. (1857), I. 25. The rasping of brasil and logwood for the dyers is very liard labour.

1703.  Lond. Gaz., No. 3893/3. The same day arrived here the Essex of Boston from Campeachy, laden with Logwood.

1880.  H. Vizetelly, Facts about Port, etc. 142. It has been often asserted that logwood is used to impart colouring matter to Port wine; and the authors of a bulky Treatise upon Wine … endorsed this preposterous assertion with their authority.

1892.  Walsh, Tea, 145. A decoction … from catechu or logwood being next added to impart a tea-like color to the liquor.

  b.  The tree that yields this wood.

1652.  Wadsworth, trans. Colmenero’s Treat. Chocolate, 15. Three Cods of the Logwood or Campeche tree.

1756.  P. Browne, Jamaica, 221. Logwood. This shrub was first introduced to Jamaica from the main.

1785.  Martyn, Rousseau’s Bot., xix. (1794), 267. Amongst the plants with regular or equal polypetalous corollas, you will find Logwood, &c.

1834.  M. G. Lewis, Jrnl. W. Ind., 66. The fragrance … of the delicious Logwood … composed an atmosphere.

  c.  attrib. and Comb.

1752.  J. Macsparran, Amer. Dissected (1753), 3. A fine promising new Settlement upon the Spanish Main, mostly inhabited by the Logwood Cutters.

1833.  J. Rennie, Alph. Angling, 22. Strong tea, either with or without a few logwood scrapings.

1890.  W. J. Gordon, Foundry, 165. By our side is a stack of dingy logwood red.

1900.  Daily News, 13 Feb., 9/5. A logwood ship that was about to sail for England.