agate
a variegated chalcedony showing curved, colored bands or other markings.
a playing marble made of this substance, or of glass in imitation of it.
Printing. a 5½-point type of a size between pearl and nonpareil.: Compare ruby (def. 6).
Origin of agate
1Other words from agate
- ag·ate·like, ag·a·toid, adjective
Words Nearby agate
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use agate in a sentence
The historian Pliny the Elder describes owning agate cups as a sign of wealth and luxury.
Spain’s New ‘Holy Grail’: Jesus Couldn’t Afford That Kind of Bling | Candida Moss | April 6, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBy contrast this cup is made of gold, onyx, precious stones, and the stone agate.
Spain’s New ‘Holy Grail’: Jesus Couldn’t Afford That Kind of Bling | Candida Moss | April 6, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTagate was widely used to carve high-value objects like signets and cylinder seals in the ancient Near East.
Spain’s New ‘Holy Grail’: Jesus Couldn’t Afford That Kind of Bling | Candida Moss | April 6, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTWhile agate could likely be acquired much more cheaply, aristocratic Romans were serious about their agate.
Spain’s New ‘Holy Grail’: Jesus Couldn’t Afford That Kind of Bling | Candida Moss | April 6, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAnd, like Teddy, I was approached by agate to do business with him.
There are gold, silver, agate and crystal vases, silver tables and gold plate of every description.
Ways of War and Peace | Delia AustrianWe managed, however, to pick up some interesting Chinese snuff bottles of carved agate, some with pictures painted inside.
Mount Everest the Reconnaissance, 1921 | Charles Kenneth Howard-BuryAn axe poised upon a stake, or an agate on a red-hot axe, was supposed by its movement to indicate the offender.
Witch, Warlock, and Magician | William Henry Davenport AdamsAt the far end was a raised dais with a mammoth statue of a kneeling woman, sculptured of the same effulgent, agate material.
The Jewels of Aptor | Samuel R. DelanyThen there were horns of ivory and ebony; emeralds, purple and broidered work, fine linen, coral and agate.
The Prophet Ezekiel | Arno C. Gaebelein
British Dictionary definitions for agate (1 of 3)
/ (ˈæɡɪt) /
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: SiO 2
a playing marble of this quartz or resembling it
Also called: ruby printing, US and Canadian (formerly) a size of printer's type approximately equal to 5 1/2 point
Origin of agate
1British Dictionary definitions for agate (2 of 3)
/ (əˈɡeɪt) /
Northern English dialect on the way
Origin of agate
2British Dictionary definitions for Agate (3 of 3)
/ (ˈæɡeɪt) /
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)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for agate
[ 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.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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