barite
a common mineral, barium sulfate, BaSO4, occurring in white, yellow, or colorless tabular crystals: the principal ore of barium.
Origin of barite
1- Also called heavy spar.
- Also barytes.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use barite in a sentence
There is at the Warm Springs a thriving mill for crushing and pulverizing barites, known vulgarly as heavy-spar.
On Horseback | Charles Dudley Warner
British Dictionary definitions for barite
/ (ˈbɛəraɪt) /
US and Canadian a colourless or white mineral consisting of barium sulphate in orthorhombic crystalline form, occurring in sedimentary rocks and with sulphide ores: a source of barium. Formula: BaSO 4: Also called: barytes, heavy spar
Origin of barite
1Collins 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 barite
[ bâr′īt ]
A usually white, clear, or yellow orthorhombic mineral. Barite occurs as flattened blades or in a circular pattern of crystals that looks like a flower and, when colored red by iron stains, is called a desert rose. It is found in limestone, in clay-rich rocks, and in sandstones. Barite is used as a source of barium. Chemical formula: BaSO4.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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