shagreen Meaning, Definition & Usage

F. chagrin, It. zigrino, fr. Turk. saghri the back of a horse or other beast of burden, shagreen. Cf. Chagrin.

A kind of untanned leather prepared in Russia and the East, from the skins of horses, asses, and camels, and grained so as to be covered with small round granulations. This characteristic surface is produced by pressing small seeds into the grain or hair side when moist, and afterward, when dry, scraping off the roughness left between them, and then, by soaking, causing the portions of the skin which had been compressed or indented by the seeds to swell up into relief. It is used for covering small cases and boxes.
The skin of various small sharks and other fishes when having small, rough, bony scales. The dogfishes of the genus Scyllium furnish a large part of that used in the arts.

Made or covered with the leather called shagreen. "A shagreen case of lancets." T. Hook.
(Zoöl.) Covered with rough scales or points like those on shagreen.