agate

ag·ate

A0136300 (ăg′ĭt)n.1. A fine-grained, fibrous variety of chalcedony with colored bands or irregular clouding.2. A playing marble made of agate or a glass imitation of it; an aggie.3. A tool with agate parts, such as a burnisher tipped with agate.4. Printing A type size, about 5 ¹/₂ points.

[Middle English achate, agaten, from Old French acate, agate, alteration (influenced by Greek agathē, good) of Latin achātēs, from Greek akhātēs.]

agate

(ˈæɡɪt) n1. (Minerals) an impure microcrystalline form of quartz consisting of a variegated, usually banded chalcedony, used as a gemstone and in making pestles and mortars, burnishers, and polishers. Formula: SiO22. (Individual Sports, other than specified) a playing marble of this quartz or resembling it3. (Printing, Lithography & Bookbinding) printing Also called: ruby US and Canadian (formerly) a size of printer's type approximately equal to 5 point[C16: via French from Latin achātēs, from Greek akhatēs]

agate

(əˈɡeɪt) advdialect Northern English on the way[C16: a-² + gate³]

Agate

(ˈæɡeɪt) n (Biography) James (Evershed). 1877–1947, British theatre critic; drama critic for The Sunday Times (1923–47) and author of a nine-volume diary Ego (1935–49)

ag•ate

(ˈæg ɪt)

n. 1. a variegated chalcedony showing curved, colored bands or other markings. 2. a playing marble made of this substance, or of glass in imitation of it. 3. Print. a. a 5½-point type. b. a type size smaller than that used for news text, esp. in classified advertisements. [1150–1200; « Medieval Latin achātēs < Greek achatēs]

ag·ate

(ăg′ĭt) A type of very fine-grained quartz found in various colors that are arranged in bands or in cloudy patterns. The bands form when water rich with silica enters empty spaces in rock, after which the silica comes out of solution and forms crystals, gradually filling the spaces from the outside inward. The different colors are the result of various impurities in the water.

Thesaurus

Noun

agate - an impure form of quartz consisting of banded chalcedony; used as a gemstone and for making mortars and pestlesmoss agate - an agate resembling moss with brown, black, or green markingscalcedony, chalcedony - a milky or greyish translucent to transparent quartz

Translations

агат

agate

(ăg`ĭt), translucent, cryptocrystalline variety of quartzquartz,
one of the commonest of all rock-forming minerals and one of the most important constituents of the earth's crust. Chemically, it is silicon dioxide, SiO₂.
..... Click the link for more information. and a subvariety of chalcedonychalcedony
[from Chalcedon], form of quartz the crystals of which are so minute that its crystalline structure cannot be seen except with the aid of a microscope. Chalcedony has a waxy luster and is translucent to transparent.
..... Click the link for more information. . Agates are identical in chemical structure to jasper, flint, chert, petrified wood, and tiger's-eye, and are often found in association with opal. The colorful, banded rocks are used as a semiprecious gemstone and in the manufacture of grinding equipment. An agate's banding forms as silica from solution is slowly deposited into cavities and veins in older rock. The stones can be artificially stained to produce combinations of color more vivid than those found in the natural state. The cutting and staining of agates has long been centered at Idar-Oberstein, Germany. Important sources of agate are Brazil, Uruguay, and the United States (Oregon, Washington, and around Lake Superior). The moss agate or mocha stone contains visible impurities in the form of dendritic shapes that resemble moss. See onyxonyx
, variety of cryptocrystalline quartz, differing from agate only in that the bands of which it is composed are parallel and regular. Its appearance is most striking when the bands are of sharply contrasting colors; black and white specimens are often used for cameos.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Agate

a mineral; a variety of chalcedony in the form of a dense, cryptocrystalline aggregate of fibrous or radial quartz formations (Si0₂)—so-called quartzite or α-tridymite. The mineral is characterized by multiple interstratification of thin (up to 10 microns), variously colored layers. The hardness of agate on the mineralogical scale is 6.0–6.5. The following varieties are recognized depending on the combination of colors in the layers—onyx (white and black layers), carnelian (red and white), sardonyx (reddish brown and white), and agates (bluish gray and white). Agate occurs in veins, in geodes, in amygdules among igneous rocks, and in the tuffs of the last. It is used as an industrial or semiprecious stone and in the manufacture of technical articles (bearing stones, prisms for scales, and so on). Agate is colored artificially to obtain bright, decorative forms.

G. P. BARSANOV

agate

[′ag·ət] (graphic arts) A type size in printing of about 5½ points, where 72 points equals 1 inch. (mineralogy) SiO₂ A fine-grained, fibrous variety of chalcedony with color banding or irregular clouding.

agate

symbolizes health; supposed to relieve snake and scorpion bites. [Class. and Medieval Legend: Leach, 27]See: Health

agate

confers this power. [Rom. Folklore: Brewer Dictionary,15]See: Invisibility

agate

1. an impure microcrystalline form of quartz consisting of a variegated, usually banded chalcedony, used as a gemstone and in making pestles and mortars, burnishers, and polishers. Formula: SiO₂ 2. a playing marble of this quartz or resembling it

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Words related to agate

noun an impure form of quartz consisting of banded chalcedony

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