n.
- a hard stony substance secreted by certain colonial marine animals as an external skeleton, typically forming large reefs.
▸precious red coral, used in jewellery.
- the pinkish-red colour of red coral.
- an anthozoan of a large group including those that form coral reefs, secreting a calcareous, horny, or soft skeleton.
[Orders Scleractinia or Madreporaria (the reef-forming stony corals), Alcyonacea (soft corals), and Gorgonacea (horny corals).]
- the edible unfertilized roe of a lobster or scallop, reddening when cooked.
Derivative
- coralloid adj. (chiefly Biology & Zoology ).
Etymology
ME: via OFr. from L. corallum, from Gk korallion, kouralion.