noun (plural -nies)
Etymology: origin unknown
Date: 1660
the wood of any of various chiefly tropical trees (family Meliaceae, the mahogany family):, a. the durable yellowish-brown to reddish-brown usually moderately hard and heavy wood of a West Indian tree ( Swietenia mahagoni ) that is widely used for cabinetwork and fine finish work, a wood similar to mahogany from a congeneric tropical American tree (especially S. macrophylla ), b. the rather hard heavy usually odorless wood of any of several African trees (genus Khaya ), the rather lightweight cedar-scented wood of any of several African trees (genus Entandrophragma ) that varies in color from pinkish to deep reddish brown, any of various woods resembling or substituted for mahogany obtained from trees of the mahogany family, a tree that yields mahogany, a moderate reddish brown