| 释义 |
basalt Min.|bəˈsɔːlt, ˈbæsɒlt|
[ad. L. basaltes, (originally an African word, Pliny), long used in Eng. unchanged.]
1. A kind of trap rock; a greenish- or brownish-black rock, igneous in origin, of compact texture and considerable hardness, composed of augite or hornblende containing titaniferous magnetic iron and crystals of feldspar (labradorite), often lying in columnar strata, as at the Giant's Causeway in Ireland, and Fingal's Cave in the Hebrides. (Pliny's basaltes was probably a variety of Syenite.)
1601Holland Pliny xxxvi. vii. §11 The ægyptians also found in æthyopia another kind of Marble which they call Basaltes, resembling yron as well in colour as hardnes. 1694Molyneux Giants Causeway in Phil. Trans. XVIII. 181 Our Irish Basaltes is composed of Columns. 1789Mrs. Piozzi Journ. France II. 364 Its composition seemed black basalt. 1813Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. iv. 195 Basalt or whinstone. 1837W. Irving Capt. Bonneville (1849) 317 Prismoids of basaltes, rising to the height of fifty or sixty feet. 1845Darwin Voy. Nat. ix. (1852) 180 The Basalt is only Lava, which has flowed beneath the sea.
b. attrib. and in comb., as in basalt rock, basalt-building.
1769Raspe in Phil. Trans. LXI. 580 Our basalt rocks differ from those of the Giant's Causeway. 1873Tristram Moab ix. 174 The basalt-building inhabitants.
2. A black porcelain invented by Wedgwood.
1832G. Porter Porcelain 17 Basaltes, or black ware..was a black porcelainous biscuit, having nearly the same properties as the natural stone. |