teak

teak

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teak

1. a large verbenaceous tree, Tectona grandis, of the East Indies, having white flowers and yielding a valuable dense wood

2. any of various similar trees or their wood

3. the hard resinous yellowish-brown wood of this tree, used for furniture making, etc.

4. a brown or yellowish-brown colour

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

teak

A dark golden yellow or brown wood with a greenish or black cast, moderately hard, coarse-grained, very durable; immune to the attack of insects; used for construction, plywood, and decorative paneling. See also: Masonite

Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture Copyright © 2012, 2002, 1998 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

teak

A dark golden yellow or brown wood with a greenish or black cast, found in southeastern Asia, India, and Burma; moderately hard, coarse-grained, very durable; oil which it contains gives it a greasy feeling and makes it immune to the attack of insects; used for exterior construction, plywood, and decorative paneling; also called Indian oak.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Teak

 

(Tectona grandis), a tree of the family Verbenaceae. Teak grows to 40–50 m in height and has large leaves 30–60 cm in length. The small flowers grow in panicles. The fruits are drupelike. Teak grows in deciduous forests of Asia, from India to Indonesia. It is cultivated in tropical regions of Asia for its valuable wood, which is used in the construction of ships, trains, and buildings and in furniture-making.

Teakwood is beautiful and has a narrow white alburnum and a yellowish heartwood that browns as it dries. The wood is very tough and resistant to decay, harmful insects, and chemicals, yet it is easily worked. Oldfieldia africana, a tree of the family Euphorbiaceae that grows in West Africa and yields valuable wood, is called African teak.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.