amiant(h)usn.
1. A mineral, a variety of asbestos, splitting into long flexible pearly white fibres, which have been woven into a fabric.
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the world > the earth > minerals > types of mineral > silicates > amphibole (double chain) > [noun] > asbestos > amiantus
amiant1420
asbestos1608
amiantus1668
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textiles from minerals > [noun]
amiantus1725
amiantc1815
iron cloth1854
1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. Real Char. ii. iii. §2. 62 Middle Prized Stones..Incombustible nature..Amiantus, Asbestus.
1671 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 6 2167 That Lanuginous Stone, called Amianthus.
1725 R. Bradley Chomel's Dict. Œcon. Amianthus, call'd by us sometimes Earthflax, and sometimes Salamander's Hair.
1750 tr. C. Leonardus Mirror of Stones 75 Amiantus or Amianthus..is not to be destroyed by Fire.
1866 J. Ruskin Ethics of Dust 76 Here is amianthus, for instance, which is quite as fine and soft as any cotton thread you ever sewed with.
2. A fibrous kind of chrysolite of a greenish colour; the ἀμίαντος of Dioscorides.
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the world > the earth > minerals > types of mineral > silicates > nesosilicates > [noun] > olivine group > olivine or chrysolites
topaz1567
olivine1794
chrysolite1813
hyalosiderite1824
glinkite1849
amiantus1863
titanolivine1880
peridotite1882
neochrysolite1884
iddingsite1893
1863 J. D. Dana Man. Geol. §18. 61 Serpentine..also delicately fibrous, and then called amianthus or chrysolite.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1884; most recently modified version published online March 2011).
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