Madrepore
Madrepore , noun
[French madrepore, perh. from madré spotted, from Old French madre, mazre, a kind of knotty wood with brown spots, from Old High German masar a knot, grain, or vein in wood, a speck, German maser + pore (see Pore); or perh. French madrépore is rather from Italian madrepora, and this perh. from Italian madre mother (see Mother) + Greek {not transcribed} a soft stone.]
(Zoology) Any coral of the genus Madrepora, a group of corals having calcareous skeletons aggregations of which form reefs and islands; formerly, often applied to any stony coral.