释义 |
▪ I. selenite1 Min. and Chem.|ˈsɛlɪnaɪt| Forms: 6 silenite, (7 silonite), 7– selenite. [ad. L. selēnītēs selenites.] 1. A stone described by ancient writers; apparently to be identified with the mineral now so called (see 2), though the accounts of its properties are inconsistent and partly fabulous. (In the 17–18th c. often identified with stones described by travellers or existing in collections.)
1567J. Maplet Gr. Forest 19 Silinite the Stone is seene in Persia in colour like to the jasper, or like to a fresh and flourishing greene herb. 1605Drayton Man in Moone 321 That stone [side-note the Selenite of σελήνη] that doth the name derive From me, with me that lesseneth or doth thrive. 1623Cockeram iii, Selenite, a stone wherein is a white, that decreaseth and encreaseth as the Moon groweth. 1686Goad Celest. Bodies i. vi. 17 Some pretious Stones are Natural Moon-Dials; the Selenite, which Pope Clement the VIII..had among his Rarities [etc.]. 1688Holme Armoury ii. 41/2 The Silonite..is a stone in Persia. 1738Chambers Cycl. (ed. 2) s.v., There are some of these selenites preserved in the palace of Peking, valued at an incredible rate. 1855Smedley Occult Sciences 358 Selenite is supposed to give the faculty of prediction, and to reconcile lovers. 2. Min. Sulphate of lime (gypsum) in a crystalline or foliated form. Also, a slip or film of this mineral used for the polarization of light.
1668Wilkins Real Char. ii. iii. §2. 62 Selenite, Muscovia glass, Isingglass, Sparr, Talc. 1691Ray Creation (1701) 119 Those rhomboideal selenites found near St. Ives. 1789E. Darwin Bot. Gard. i. ii. 219 Hence silvery Selenite her chrystal moulds And soft Asbestus smooths his silky folds. 1799G. Smith Laboratory I. 334 There is another kind of marble made of the flaky selenite. 1851Mayne Reid Scalp Hunters xxxvi, I had recognised the sparkling scales of the selenite. 1867J. Hogg Microsc. i. ii. 139 Used in combination with a superposed film of selenite or not as required. attrib.1839G. Bird Nat. Philos. 367 (head-line) Colours exhibited by selenite analyzing plate. 1888Rutley Rock-Forming Min. 116 In the case of nosean very few or no selenite crystals are formed. †b. Chem. Sulphate of lime, without regard to structure. Obs.
1756C. Lucas Ess. Waters I. 94 Many waters are charged with selenite; as those of Pyrmont..and others. 1776Woulfe in Phil. Trans. LXVI. 617 The acid of vitriol forsakes its alkaly to unite, and form a selenite with the calcareous earth. 1816Accum Chem. Tests (1818) 293 Thus sulphate of lime, or selenite, may be precipitated by alcohol from water which contains this salt. 1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 334 Water may be found naturally free from fixable gas, selenite, or clay. ▪ II. selenite3 Chem.|ˈsɛlɪnaɪt| [f. selen-ium + -ite.] A salt of selenious acid.
1831T. Thomson Chem. (ed. 7) I. 290 The analyses of two selenites given by Berzelius. Ibid. II. 44 The selenites (as the salts which it forms are called). 1842Parnell Chem. Anal. (1845) 258 Seleniates and selenites give the characteristic odour of selenium. 1869Roscoe Chem. 145 Selenic Acid is best prepared by fusing a selenite with nitre. |