| 释义 |
granite|ˈgrænɪt|
Also 8 granate, granet.
[ad. It. granito (orig. a ppl. adj. = ‘grained’), f. grano grain n. The It. word has been adopted in most of the European langs.: F. granit (cited in Hatz.-Darm. from 1690), Sp., Pg. granito, Ger., Sw., Da. granit, Du. graniet.
The 18th c. form granate is due to etymologizing identification of the word with granate a. Cf. granated marble, s.v. granate v.]
1. a. A granular crystalline rock consisting essentially of quartz, orthoclase-feldspar, and mica, much used in building.
It varies in colour, light grey being the predominating tint. Other varieties are white and light red or pink.
[1613–39I. Jones in Leoni Palladio's Archit. (1742) II. 49 A. Pannels of Porphyry. B. Ditto of Granito.] 1646Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 232 Columns of great height, of Egyptian granite. 1670R. Lassels Voy. Italy II. 236 Pillars..all of a granite, or speckled marble. 1718Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Abbe Conti 31 July, Vast pieces of granite..are daily lessened by the prodigious balls that the Turks make from them for their Cannon. 1759Johnson Rasselas xxxvii, Palaces and temples will be demolished to make stables of granate. 1762Phil. Trans. LII. 510 The school-house all of square granet. 1814Scott Ld. of Isles iii. xv, Huge terraces of granite black. 1851Layard Pop. Acc. Discov. Nineveh xiii. 341 A country..rich in stone and costly granites. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. vii. 50 The Aiguille..piercing with its spikes of granite the clear air. 1868B. J. Lossing Hudson 364 The mansion is built of blue granite. 1887Ruskin Præterita II. 233 The tremendous granites of the Grimsel.
b. fig. Applied to ‘stony’, hard-headed, or hard-hearted persons. Often attrib. and Comb. (cf. granite-like in 3 b).
1839J. R. Lowell Ye Yankees 3 in Uncoll. Poems (1950), Stern granite hearted ones! 1902Daily Chron. 12 Nov. 5/6 That granite-headed ship-owner, Sir Alfred L. Jones. 1908Ibid. 7 Nov. 4/4 His countenance expressed neither the sweetness and tenderness of the saint nor the granite severity of the prophet. 1916Punch 14 June 398/2, I stole a look at Hercules over my shoulder, but he was granite. 1920C. Jerdan Scott. Clerical Stories viii. 164 Strong-boned, granite-headed, and endowed with all kinds of vitality.
2. U.S. ‘A kind of rough-grained water-ice or sherbet. Also called rock-punch and rock ice-cream’ (Cent. Dict.).
1887N.Y. Tribune 7 Apr. (Cent.), Granites..must be frozen without beating, or even much stirring, as the design is to have a rough, icy-substance. 1892Star 14 May 4/3 Delicious ‘granites’ in custard glasses.
3. attrib. and Comb.
a. simple attrib. or quasi-adj. Consisting of or made of granite. the granite capital or granite city, Aberdeen. the granite State, New Hampshire, U.S.
1703Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 126 Granite Pillars. 1813Scott Trierm. iii. x, A pile of granite fragments. 1842J. F. Cooper Jack o' Lantern I. iv. 112, I come from New Hampshire, or what we call the Granite state. 1846J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. 343 Granite mountains are known at a distance by their rounded tops. 1862Burton Bk. Hunter (1863) 307 Aberdeen, the granite capital of the far north. 1892Pall Mall G. 21 Sept. 6/1 A well-known surgeon..in the granite city. 1898Daily News 10 May 8/2 A..thoroughfare..paved with granite setts.
b. objective and instrumental, as granite-dispersion; granite-dispersing, granite-like, granite-sprinkled adjs.
1879Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc. XXXV. 431 The *granite dispersing capacity of Kirkcudbrightshire must have been very great.
Ibid., The great Kirkcudbrightshire *Granite-dispersion.
1839Bailey Festus viii. (ed. 1848) 90 The first and *granite-like effect Of things. 1849Cobden Speeches 20 The granite-like hardihood and consistency of the man.
1867R. S. Hawker Prose Wks. (1893) 147 A boundless reach of *granite-sprinkled moor.
c. Special comb.: granite-porphyry = granophyre; granite-quartzy a., intermediate between granite and quartz; granite ware, (a) pottery with a speckled colouring imitating that of granite; (b) the name given to a kind of enamelled ironware.
1885Geikie Text-bk. Geol. ii. ii. vii. (ed. 2) 140 Granophyre (*Granite-porphyry)—a rock composed of a compact, but thoroughly crystalline (microgranitic) base, through which are porphyritically dispersed crystals of felspar, mica, and quartz (often doubly terminated).
1882Capello & Ivens Benguella to Yacca II. 232 We find..the ground to be composed of *granite-quartzy rock.
1895Tradesman's List, Pie Dishes—Best White *Granite Ware. |