Et Vigny, plus secret, comme en sa tour d'ivoire, avant midi rentrait. [Sainte-Beuve, "Pensées d'Août, à M. Villemain," 1837]
Used earlier as a type of a wonder or a symbol of "the ideal." The literal image is perhaps from Song of Solomon [vii:4]:
Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim: thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus. [KJV]
比喻用法，来自象牙的象征意义，即富贵人家的生活，后用于指闭门造车的学者或研究。比较silver spoon.
该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：ivory tower 词源，ivory tower 含义。
19世纪法国诗人、文艺批评家圣佩韦·查理·奥古斯丁的书函《致维尔曼》。奥古斯丁批评同时代的法国作家维尼的作品中的悲观消极的情绪，主张作家从庸俗的资产阶级现实超脱出来，进入一种主观幻想的艺术天地——象牙之塔。比喻与世隔绝的梦幻境地。