agate
[ ag-it ]
/ ˈæg ɪt /
noun
a variegated chalcedony showing curved, colored bands or other markings.
a playing marble made of this substance, or of glass in imitation of it.
Nearby words
- agassiz, louis,
- agastric,
- agastrophus,
- agastya,
- agata,
- agate line,
- agateware,
- agatha,
- agathism,
- agathist
Origin of agate
1150–1200; Middle English ac(c)ate, achate, agaten (compare Dutch agaat, Old Saxon agāt, Old High German agat), apparently < Old French agathe or Italian agata (initial stress) ≪ Medieval Latin achātēs < Greek achā́tēs
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Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for agate
agate
1/ (ˈæɡɪt) /
noun
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
Word Origin for agate
C16: via French from Latin achātēs, from Greek akhatēs
adverb
Northern English dialect on the way
Word Origin for agate
C16: a-² + gate³
Agate
/ (ˈæɡeɪt) /
noun
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
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agate
1560s, from Middle French agathe (16c.), from Latin achates, from Greek akhates, the name of a river in Sicily where the stones were found (Pliny). But the river could as easily be named for the stone.
The earlier English form of the word, achate (early 13c.), was directly from Latin. Figurative sense of "a diminutive person" (c.1600) is from the now-obsolete meaning "small figures cut in agates for seals," preserved in typographer's agate (1838), the U.S. name of the 5.5-point font called in Great Britain ruby. Meaning "toy marble made of glass resembling agate" is from 1843 (colloquially called an aggie).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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
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