coral

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
coral/ˈkɒrəl/

▶noun

• 1 a hard stony substance secreted by certain colonial marine animals as an external skeleton, typically forming large reefs.

  ■ precious red coral, used in jewellery.

• 2 the pinkish-red colour of red coral.

• 3 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).]

• 4 the edible unfertilized roe of a lobster or scallop, reddening when cooked.

– derivatives
coralloid adjective (chiefly Biology & Zoology).

– origin ME: via OFr. from L. corallum, from Gk korallion, kouralion.