α. Middle English 1600s opalus, 1500s oppalus.
β. 1500s–1600s opall, 1500s–1700s opale, 1600s opell, 1600s– opal.
opaln.adj.
/ˈəʊpl/, U.S. /ˈoʊp(ə)l/ A. n.
1.
a. An amorphous form of hydrated silica resembling chalcedony, often white or colourless ( common opal), but varying through blue-green and orange almost to black and valued in those forms showing colourful iridescence ( precious opal). Also: a stone of this, usually of the iridescent form and cut en cabochon.fire-, jasper-, moss, noble, wood-opal, etc.: see the first element. See also semi-opal n.A belief formerly associated with the opal was that when carried on the person wrapped in a bay leaf it conferred invisibility.
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society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > gem or precious stone > opal > [noun]
opala1398
pederote1585
stone1895
opalite1896
knobby1910
the world > the earth > minerals > types of mineral > silicates > tectosilicate > [noun] > quartz > amorphous quartz or opal
opala1398
pederote1585
α.
β. ?1590–1 J. Burel Discription Queens Entry Edinb. in Poems sig. M Vpon thair brest..The Rubie pallet and Th'opall, Togither with the Amatist.1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 614 In the Opal you shal see the burning fire of the Carbuncle or Ruby, the glorious purple of the Amethyst, the greene sea of the Emeraud, and all glittering together.1631 B. Jonson New Inne i. vi. 18 I had No med'cine, Sir, to goe inuisible:..Nor an Opal Wrapt in a Bay-leafe, i' my left fist, To charme their eyes with.1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding iv. iii. 273 To this, perhaps, will be said, Has not an Opall, or the infusion of Lignum Nephriticum, two Colours at the same time?1727 J. Thomson Summer 19 Thick, thro' the whitening Opal, play thy Beams.1794 R. J. Sulivan View of Nature I. 446 The oculus mundi, which has the property of becoming transparent in water, is nothing but an opaque, decomposed opale.1805 R. Jameson Treat. External Characters Minerals 25 Sharp cornered, as in quartz and calcedony. Blunt cornered, as in common opal.1843 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters I. 108 Every one knows how capriciously the colours of a fine opal vary from day to day.1855 D. T. Ansted et al. in Orr's Circle Sci.: Inorg. Nature 510 Noble opal, or precious opal, includes all those specimens which exhibit the play of prismatic colours.1948 R. M. Pearl Pop. Gemol. v. 225 Common opal includes the many kinds of opal that lack a play of color.1976 Sci. Amer. Apr. 84/1 There are large natural deposits of ‘common opal’, an opaque, milk white amorphous silica of no commercial value.1993 B. Whitehead Sweet Death come Softly (BNC) 196 The thing enclosed was a brooch which looked very valuable—a large opal surrounded by small diamonds.a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 203 Optalius hatte Opalus [L. opptalus] also, and is a stone distyngued wiþ colours of dyuers precious stones.
a1500 in J. Evans & M. S. Serjeantson Eng. Mediaeval Lapidaries (1933) 116 (MED) Optalio is a stone þat is cleped opalus.
1567 J. Maplet Greene Forest f. 16 Oppalus..is a stone in colour like to verie many, and those cleane contrarie gems.
b. The appearance or colour of an opal.
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the world > matter > colour > [noun] > opal colour
opal1576
the world > matter > colour > variegation > iridescence > [noun] > iridescent colour
opal1576
nacrine1852
dawn1894
1576 in J. Arnold Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd (1988) 155/1 [A petticoat] of opall with fowre gardes of crymsen vellat layed with bone lase of venice golde and silver.
1836 N. P. Willis Inklings of Adventure II. 11 A twilight of opal.
1891 O. Wilde Picture of Dorian Gray vii. 132 The sky was pure opal now.
1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. No. 104. 212/1 Dainty colorings..baby blue, rose pink, opal, [etc.].
1901 R. Kipling Five Nations (1903) 113 Opal and ash-of-roses, Cinnamon, umber, and dun.
1914 R. Brooke in E. Marsh Rupert Brooke (1918) vii. 142 Like an Italian town in silver-point..with a sea and sky of opal and pearl and faint gold around.
1953 J. Wright Gateway 39 Thorn branches caught at his eyes to make him blind And the sky turned into an unlucky opal.
2001 Times (Nexis) 17 June The first water-colour wash of light..touches a few high, light clouds, turning the sky to opal.
c. figurative with reference to the various and changing colours of an opal. Now rare.
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1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. i. ii. 41 When we see Aurora, passing gay, With Opalls paint the Seeling of Cathay.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) ii. iv. 74 The Tailor make thy doublet of changeable Taffata, for thy minde is a very Opall . View more context for this quotation
1906 Westm. Gaz. 2 June 2/2 The green of the transparent upturned leaves, the blue of the flowers, the orange of the submerged stems, and the almost amethyst of the water, together make a very opal of colour.
2. = opaline n. 3.Also used with reference to the opalescence of the glass (rather than the colour).
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society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > glass and glass-like materials > [noun] > glass > other types of glass
mirror glass1440
Venice glass1527
green glass1559
bubble glass1591
hard glass1597
window glass1606
bottle glass1626
looking-glass plate1665
opal glass1668
flint-glass1683
broad-glass1686
jealous glass1703
plate glass1728
Newcastle glass1734
flint1755
German sheet glass1777
Réaumur's porcelain1777
cut glass1800
Vauxhall1830
muslin glass1837
Venetian glass1845
latticinio1855
quartz glass1861
muff glass1865
thallium glass1868
St. Gobain glass1870
frost blue1873
crackle-glass1875
opaline1875
crackle-ware1881
amberina1883
opal1885
Jena1892
Holophane1893
roughcast1893
soda glass1897
opalite1899
milchglas1907
pâte de verre1907
Pyrex1915
silica glass1916
soda-lime glass1917
Vita-glass1925
peach-blow1930
borosilicate glass1933
Vitrolite1937
twin plate1939
sintered glass1940
gold-film1954
Plyglass1956
pyroceram1957
float glass1959
solar glass1977
1885 List of Subscribers Exchange Syst. (United Telephone Co.) (ed. 6) 229 (advt.) Crystal and demi-crystal table services and ornaments..opal, flint, and coloured goods.
1891 W. J. Dawson Redempt. E. Strahan iii. 49 Her work was to paint flowers and little landscapes on opal.
1949 W. A. Thorpe Eng. Glass (ed. 2) ix. 226 It [sc. a ‘nine-pin’ bottle] belonged in the main to Bristol and Stourbridge manufacturers, and in..white opal it lasted well into the nineteenth century.
1991 Stained Glass Fall 175 Thin shards of mouth blown coloured glass... Selected opals and transparent colors.
3. Molecular Biology. (The name of) the codon UGA (or TGA), one of three that terminate protein synthesis. Also: a mutation resulting in the introduction of this codon into an RNA sequence; a mutant characterized by this. Frequently attributive, designating such a codon, mutant, or mutation. Cf. amber n.2 12, ochre n. 4.
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1970 Jrnl. Virol. 5 22 All nine amber, four of six ochre, and five of six opal mutants were phenotypically suppressible by SM [= streptomycin].
1971 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 68 773/2 (caption) The ochre, amber and opal codons produce chain termination and the mutant phenotype.
1976 Nature 26 Aug. 757/1 The three codons UAG (amber), UAA (ochre), and UGA (opal) serve as signals for polypeptide chain termination during messenger RNA translation.
1999 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 96 5621/1 Other mechanisms, such as selenocysteine suppression.., may act to bypass the putative opal (TGA) stop codon of the 5′ ORF.
B. adj.
1. Of or resembling an opal; of the colour of an opal; opalescent.
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the world > matter > colour > variegation > iridescence > [adjective] > like opal in colour or iridescence
opala1586
opaline1658
opalish1805
opalescent1814
opalesque1848
opaloid1875
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > gem or precious stone > opal > [adjective]
opala1586
opaline1658
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) i. iii. sig. C4v Her forhead iacinth like, her cheekes of opall hue.
1632 A. Townshend Albions Triumph 7 Pure Opale shewrs new shed.
1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters iii. 307 A kind of opal color is produced.
1787 G. Keate Distressed Poet 73 The Opal Car on which they rode.
1817 T. Campbell Reullura 187 When the opal morn first flushed the sky.
c1865 J. Wylde Circle of Sci. I. 149/1 It should present an opal appearance.
1883 Harper's Mag. Jan. 184/1 The nereis, with opal tints and gleams of pearl,..resplendent with light.
1900 J. Conrad Lord Jim xxxii. 328 The diffused light from an opal sky.
1959 Engineering 13 Feb. 198/3 Translucent opal plastics.
1991 ‘E. Anthony’ Relic (1992) (BNC) 159 It wouldn't be the snuff box, but the marvellous box in yellow and white opal enamel.
2. Made from, consisting of, or including opal.
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1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ii. 1049 Farr off th' Empyreal Heav'n..With Opal Towrs and Battlements adorn'd Of living Saphire. View more context for this quotation
1748 T. Smollett Roderick Random II. xlv. 93 I pulled out my watch with a rich gold chain.., and an opal ring.
1844 Hood's Mag. Aug. 182 See my poor finger now, How you have bruised it with my opal ring?
1922 Westm. Gaz. 12 Oct. 6/5 He..wore horn-rimmed spectacles, and two huge opal rings.
1985 G. Naylor Linden Hills 172 He pointed to the opal stone.
1992 G. Linscott Sister beneath Sheet (BNC) 171 ‘And then,’ Jules said, ‘we have this strange business of the opal pendant.’
3. Of a light bulb: made of translucent white glass; (of a lamp) containing such a bulb.
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the world > matter > light > artificial light > an artificial light > artificial light defined by light-source > electric light > [adjective] > of or relating to light bulbs of specific type
opal1904
pearl1929
prefocus1939
1901 F. B. Crocker Electr. Lighting II. xvii. 423 Lamps are made in many colors, such as red, blue, green, amber, opal, frosted, etc., besides the ordinary clear glass bulbs.]
1904 Electr. Rev. 19 Feb. (Suppl.) p. ix. (advt.) The ‘Ideal’ half opal lamp.
1926 Brit. Standard Gloss. Terms Electr. Engin. (Brit. Engin. Standards Assoc.) 148 Opal lamp, a filament lamp, the bulb of which is made of opalescent glassware so as to enlarge the source of light with a consequent reduction in surface brightness.
1954 Househ. Guide & Almanac (News of World) 132/1 Single-capped tubular lamps are ideal for mirror lighting and for decorative treatments. These are white opal lamps, length 12 in.
1976 Daily Tel. 25 June (Colour Suppl.) 15/2 Opal light bulbs are primarily suitable for use where the bulb is clearly visible, for their coating hides the filament.
1980 Economist (Nexis) 5 Apr. 75 The opal bulb is..15% less efficient than the clear prismatic version.
Compounds
C1.
opal buyer n.
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1911 C. E. W. Bean ‘Dreadnought’ of Darling xxv. 222 The most precious colour, the opal-buyers told us, was ‘fire’—the rich glow as of a red-hot horseshoe, which you find in the heart of the best opal.
2002 Financial Times (Nexis) 5 Jan. (Perspectives section) 9 The Chinese opal buyers..have taken over a bank of rooms at the back of the Opal Inn motel.
opal field n.
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1902 Chambers's Jrnl. Aug. 496/2 There are few men on the opal-fields who do not average five pounds per week.
2000 Leyland's Austral. Winter 6/2 Our odyssey..took us north to Brisbane, then west to the sapphire fields and opal fields before swinging north.
opal seeker n.
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1902 Chambers's Jrnl. Aug. 496/1 At that hour the opal-seeker must cease his daily toil.
1990 Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 24 May e7/1 The abrasive rubble is so inhospitable that even..sidewinder rattlesnakes shy away, leaving opal seekers alone to unearth a gemstone that spits fire.
C2.
opal-black adj.
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1933 J. Wheelwright Rock & Shell 11 Opal-black, iridescent with rainbows.
1997 Daily Tel. 14 Mar. 22/5 This heady ‘dark floral’ concoction, encased in its mysterious opal-black flacon.
opal-coloured adj.
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1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. ii. ii. 418 Th' Opal-coloured Morne.
1791 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 81 328 Prussianated fossil alkali occasioned a very slight opal coloured appearance.
1867 R. W. Emerson May-day & Other Pieces 36 The opal-colored days.
2001 Egypt Today (Electronic ed.) 1 Feb. The TFT5010 offers..optional touch-screen technology (available with the ‘opal’-coloured monitor but not the ‘carbon’).
opal globed adj.
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1890 Internat. Ann. Anthonys Photogr. Bull. 104 For a good negative illuminator,..a duplex or other opal-globed lamp will not be far to seek.
1936 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 156 337 An opal globed incandescent lamp.
opal-green adj.
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1910 Chambers's Jrnl. May 330/2 Over them were the glass oil-cups, with the opal-green engine-oil flushing through them to feed the bearings.
1986 A. Codrescu Comrade Past & Mister Present 53 A red mountain atop a purely golden bed of rice surrounded by little opal-green islands of onion and mango chutney.
opal grey adj. and n.
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1867 A. J. Munby Diary 7 June in D. Hudson Munby (1972) 239 All things were cool and charming, and opal-grey, in the cool sweet morning.
1945 J. Dos Passos First Encounters i. 13 Sky and sea are opal grey.
2001 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Jrnl. Sentinel (Nexis) 4 Mar. Dusty shades include maple sugar, opal gray, misty lilac and pale mauve.
opal-hued adj.
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1843 E. Jones Stud. Sensation & Event 152 On evenings of summer, when sunlight is low, Soft the rain falls from opal-hued skies.
2000 Townsville (Austral.) Bull. (Nexis) 1 Jan. 803 Mount Elliott, the Pinnacles and Hervey Range remain the same opal-hued mountains described by Lucy Gray.
opal-pale adj.
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1946 W. de la Mare Traveller 25 Opal-pale..A strange and deepening lustre tinged the air.
opal-shelled adj.
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1922 V. Woolf Jacob's Room i. 11 Out pushes an opal-shelled crab.
opal-tinted adj.
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1860 R. F. Burton in Jrnl. Royal Geogr. Soc. 1859 29 112 A sea of purest azure, flaked by fleecy opal-tinted vapours.
1909 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Avonlea xv. 170 Anne looked dreamily afar to the opal-tinted horizon.
2001 St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Dispatch (Nexis) 24 Mar. (Lifestyle section) 32 Bill Blass' gingko leaf-print silk organza jacket..was paired with elegant opal-tinted sequin lace pants.
C3.
opal-agate n. a form of opal with a banded structure of different colours.
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society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > gem or precious stone > opal > [noun] > varieties of
girasol1588
oculus mundi1661
eye of the world1730
hydrophane1784
cacholong1791
pitchstone1794
pyrophane1794
semi-opal1794
fire opal1811
sun opal1818
isopyre1827
alumocalcite1832
jasper-opal1843
opal jasper1848
resin opal1850
pitch opal1861
jasp-opal1868
opal-agate1868
harlequin1873
harlequin opal1887
wax-opal1896
potch1897
pinfire1902
moss opal1904
nobby1919
the world > the earth > minerals > types of mineral > silicates > tectosilicate > [noun] > quartz > amorphous quartz or opal > others
girasol1588
oculus mundi1661
hydrophane1784
cacholong1791
pitchstone1794
pyrophane1794
semi-opal1794
wood-stone1794
fire opal1811
wood-opal1816
sun opal1818
isopyre1827
jasper-opal1843
opal jasper1848
resin opal1850
natural glass1853
pitch opal1861
vitrite1866
jasp-opal1868
opal-agate1868
pearl opal1872
harlequin1873
harlequin opal1887
wax-opal1896
potch1897
moss opal1904
nobby1919
1868 J. D. Dana Syst. Mineral. (ed. 5) 199 Opal-agate, agate-like in structure, but consisting of opal of different colors.
1916 Science 26 May 749/2 The opal-material is here present in great variety: milk opal, opal-agate, precious opal, [etc.].
opal dirt n. Australian earth of the kind in which opal is found.
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the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > earth or soil > kind of earth or soil > [noun] > mineral soil > others
alum earth1612
cabook1834
laterite1893
ferricrete1902
murram1912
opal dirt1925
allite1930
Oxisol1960
1925 Ann. Rep. Dept. Mines New S. Wales 1924 85/2 The ‘Opal Dirt’ is picking ground, being simply a layer of clay or sandy clay overlain by sandstone.
1987 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 16 Jan. (Great Outdoors Suppl.) 8/3 The famous opal ‘nobbies’ at Lightning Ridge are fossilised remains of aquatic plants embedded in the silts that formed the famous layer of opal dirt.
opaleye n. a deep-bodied percoid fish, Girella nigricans (family Kyphosidae), having a green back and iridescent blue eyes and native to the coastal waters of southern California.
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1923 D. K. Tressler Marine Products of Commerce 730/2 Green-fish (Girella nigricans). This fish, which is sometimes called opal-eye, is a food-fish of fair quality.
1960 Systematic Zool. 9 134/2 The marine vertebrate fauna..includes a number of San Diegan types, such as..the opaleye, Girella nigricans.
1995 Ecology 76 1961/2 Opaleyes ate entire leaf shoots drifting in the water column, and schools of up to 55 individuals would suddenly dive into the canopy and rip surfgrass.
opal glass n. [compare French verre opale (1875)] (a) glass which is iridescent like precious opal; (b) = opaline adj. 3.
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society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > glass and glass-like materials > [noun] > glass > other types of glass
mirror glass1440
Venice glass1527
green glass1559
bubble glass1591
hard glass1597
window glass1606
bottle glass1626
looking-glass plate1665
opal glass1668
flint-glass1683
broad-glass1686
jealous glass1703
plate glass1728
Newcastle glass1734
flint1755
German sheet glass1777
Réaumur's porcelain1777
cut glass1800
Vauxhall1830
muslin glass1837
Venetian glass1845
latticinio1855
quartz glass1861
muff glass1865
thallium glass1868
St. Gobain glass1870
frost blue1873
crackle-glass1875
opaline1875
crackle-ware1881
amberina1883
opal1885
Jena1892
Holophane1893
roughcast1893
soda glass1897
opalite1899
milchglas1907
pâte de verre1907
Pyrex1915
silica glass1916
soda-lime glass1917
Vita-glass1925
peach-blow1930
borosilicate glass1933
Vitrolite1937
twin plate1939
sintered glass1940
gold-film1954
Plyglass1956
pyroceram1957
float glass1959
solar glass1977
1668 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 3 744 There was a discourse at London of a certain pot of Glass-mettal, which brake in the Glass-house at Woolidge; in the bottom of which was found a quantity of Opal-glass.
1858 E. T. Freedley Philadelpia & its Manufactures 276 The imitations of Bohemian Glass and Opal Glass..are considered better than a great proportion of those made in Europe.
1923 Vogue Early Oct. 47/1 A pair of feathered bird pictures and French opal glass bottles.
1983 G. E. Baddley Tramways of Croydon (BNC) 108 As these boxes had a small square opening at the back, glazed with opal glass, the Oyster lamps were removed.
opal gouger n. Australian a person who digs for opal; an opal miner.
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society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > miner > [noun] > one who mines other specific substances
jetter1614
gum-diggerc1858
chlorider1874
gemmer1889
gouger1898
hardrocker1903
opal gouger1904
1904 Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Mar. 16/3 Came the way of a White Cliffs (N.S.W.) opal-gouger lately.
1999 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 18 June (News section) 20 Houses are hewn directly into the cliff faces... Owner-builders, opal gougers and mud-brick enthusiasts will relate to the work.
opal jasper n. = jasper-opal n. at jasper n.1 Compounds 3.
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society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > gem or precious stone > opal > [noun] > varieties of
girasol1588
oculus mundi1661
eye of the world1730
hydrophane1784
cacholong1791
pitchstone1794
pyrophane1794
semi-opal1794
fire opal1811
sun opal1818
isopyre1827
alumocalcite1832
jasper-opal1843
opal jasper1848
resin opal1850
pitch opal1861
jasp-opal1868
opal-agate1868
harlequin1873
harlequin opal1887
wax-opal1896
potch1897
pinfire1902
moss opal1904
nobby1919
the world > the earth > minerals > types of mineral > silicates > tectosilicate > [noun] > quartz > amorphous quartz or opal > others
girasol1588
oculus mundi1661
hydrophane1784
cacholong1791
pitchstone1794
pyrophane1794
semi-opal1794
wood-stone1794
fire opal1811
wood-opal1816
sun opal1818
isopyre1827
jasper-opal1843
opal jasper1848
resin opal1850
natural glass1853
pitch opal1861
vitrite1866
jasp-opal1868
opal-agate1868
pearl opal1872
harlequin1873
harlequin opal1887
wax-opal1896
potch1897
moss opal1904
nobby1919
1848 J. D. Dana Man. Mineral. 140 Opal jasper. Resembles jasper in appearance, and contains a few per cent. of iron.
1951 M. L. Wolf Dict. Arts 479/2 Opal jasper, in lapidary art, a variety of common opal having the color of yellow jasper.
opal plate n. a plate of opal glass; esp. (formerly) one used as a photographic plate (obsolete).
ΚΠ
1876 Scribner's Monthly Nov. 138/1 The opal plate and the print..are immersed in water.
1933 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 222 137 The 3 cm. hole in the bottom of the vessel..was closed by the opal plate.
1978 Science 23 June 1393/1 A dark-adapted frog retina was mounted in a double window chamber with an opal plate.
opal ware n. ware made of opal glass; spec. heat-resistant opalescent kitchenware.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > glass and glass-like materials > [noun] > glass > glass-work or glassware > types of
murrhine1782
Waterford1783
crystalware1805
peloton glass1881
opal ware1894
Stiegel1906
Mary Gregory1959
Nailsea1961
Vaseline1966
1894 Montgomery Ward Catal. 520/3 Blue Opal Ware. A new pattern, just out, made in fancy colored glass in blue opal.
1929 Encycl. Brit. X. 412/1 In 1927 the United States had..23 manufacturers making opal ware.
1999 Knoxville News-Sentinel (Nexis) 1 Jan. (Home & Garden section) d3 Smaller concerns..turned out decorated opal wares that are somewhat reminiscent of ‘Wave Crest’ but of a lesser quality.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.a1398- to etc two fingers up at
- to etc uncle
- to etc under awe
- to etc under discussion
- to etc under the rug
- to etc up a gear
- to etc up a person's heels
- to etc up and down like a bride's nightie
- to etc up by the roots
- to etc up her arse
- to etc up her ass
- to etc up his arse
- to etc up his ass
- to etc up one's heels
- to etc up one's jacksie
- to etc up one's leg
- to etc up one's own arse
- to etc up one's own ass
- to etc up your arse
- to etc up your ass
- to etc upon one's pantofles
- to etc upon pantofles
- to etc upon the offensive
- to etc upon the pikes
- to etc upon the town