coral

noun

• 1 [mass noun] a hard stony substance secreted by certain marine coelenterates as an external skeleton, typically forming large reefs in warm seas: [as modifier]:a coral reef the nearby coral islands, lagoons, and atolls
• precious red coral, used in jewellery: she was wearing a twisted rope of coral, pearls, and crystal [as modifier]:coral beads
• the pinkish-red colour of red coral: colours of earth, coral, and chestnut [as modifier]:a coral and white dinner service

• 2a sedentary coelenterate of warm and tropical seas, with a calcareous, horny, or soft skeleton. Most corals are colonial and many rely on the presence of green algae in their tissues to obtain energy from sunlight.

  • Several orders in the class Anthozoa, including the ‘true’ or stony corals (order Scleractinia or Madreporaria), which form reefs, the soft corals (order Alcyonacea), which form leathery or fleshy colonies, and the horny corals (order Gorgonacea)

• 3 [mass noun] the unfertilized roe of a lobster or scallop, which is used as food and becomes reddish when cooked: we had scallops with their coral, in their fluted shells