(ūd)n. [Arabic ʿūd, lit. ‘wood’]

1A piece of wood; a branch, stick or stem. 2Mus. A short-necked, pear-bodied lute of the Arab, Persian and Turkish worlds, carved from that wood. 3Agarwood; the dark, resinous heartwood burned and worn as scent across the Gulf and the Indian Ocean. 4(as ʿawd, written the sameعَوْد) A return; a coming back.

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