| 释义 |
astroite|ˈæstrəʊaɪt|
[ad. L. astroītes (Pliny), f. Gr. ἀστρο- star: see -ite.]
lit. A ‘star-stone.’
1. A gem known to the ancients, apparently the same as the astrion.
1601Holland Pliny xxxvii. ix. (R.) As touching astroites, manie make great account of it. 1617Minsheu, Astroite, a precious stone. 1675Ogilby Brit. 12 Star-like Stones called Astroyts, formerly of great esteem. 1750Leonardus' Mirr. Stones 68 Astroites, Astrion, Asterias, or Asterites, is a white Stone approaching to Christal.
†2. Any star-shaped mineral or fossil, e.g. the joints of pentacrinites. Obs.
1610Holland Camden's Brit. i. 536 Stones called Astroites, which resemble little starres joyned with one another. 1724De Foe, etc. Tour Gt. Brit. (ed. 4) II. 326 (D.) Certain stones about the breadth of a silver peny and thickness of an half-crown, called astroites or star-stones, being fine pointed like a star and flat. 1728Lewis in Phil. Trans. XXXV. 491 Stones resembling Shells of the Escallop and Cockle kind..with some Astroites.
3. Zool. A species of madrepore.
1708in Phil. Trans. XXVI. 77 The Astroite, an Irregular Coralline-stone, naturally Engrav'n with Asterisks. 1794Sullivan View Nat. II. 175 Those of the coral class as madrepores, millepores, astroites. 1848Dana Zooph. vii. §112. 110 The Porites..graduate into the Astræoporæ, and thence to the Astroites. |