[n] close-grained fragrant yellowish heartwood of the true sandalwood; has insect-repelling properties and is used for carving and cabinetwork
Misc. Definitions
\San"dal*wood\, n. [F. sandal, santal, fr. Ar. [,c]andal, or Gr. sa`ntalon; both ultimately fr. Skr. candana. Cf. {Sanders}.] (Bot.) (a) The highly perfumed yellowish heartwood of an East Indian and Polynesian tree ({Santalum album}), and of several other trees of the same genus, as the Hawaiian {Santalum Freycinetianum} and {S. pyrularium}, the Australian {S. latifolium}, etc. The name is extended to several other kinds of fragrant wood. (b) Any tree of the genus {Santalum}, or a tree which yields sandalwood. (c) The red wood of a kind of buckthorn, used in Russia for dyeing leather ({Rhamnus Dahuricus}). {False sandalwood}, the fragrant wood of several trees not of the genus {Santalum}, as {Ximenia Americana}, {Myoporum tenuifolium} of Tahiti. {Red sandalwood}, a heavy, dark red dyewood, being the heartwood of two leguminous trees of India ({Pterocarpus santalinus}, and {Adenanthera pavonina}); -- called also {red sanderswood}, {sanders} or {saunders}, and {rubywood}.