botryoidal

American  

[bo-tree-oid-l] / ˌbɒ triˈɔɪd l /

Also botryoid,

adjective

Mineralogy.

1. having the form of a bunch of grapes.

   botryoidal hematite.

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botryoidal British  

/ ˌbɒtrɪˈɔɪdəl, -ˌəʊz, ˈbɒtrɪˌəʊs /

adjective

1. (of minerals, parts of plants, etc) shaped like a bunch of grapes

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botryoidal Scientific  

/ bŏt′rē-oid′l /

1. Shaped like a bunch of grapes. Certain minerals and parts of organisms can be botryoidal.

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Other Word Forms

• botryoidally adverb

Etymology

Origin of botryoidal

1810–20; < Greek botryoeid ( ḗs ) shaped like a bunch of grapes ( bótry ( s ) bunch of grapes + -oeidēs -oid ) + -al ¹

Example Sentences

A translucent botryoidal calamine banded with blue and green is found at Laurion in Greece, and has sometimes been cut and polished for small ornaments such as brooches.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4 "Bulgaria" to "Calgary" by Various

Some of these implements are pecked or chipped, others are smooth—pebbles apparently chosen for their botryoidal shape, polished surface, or fancied resemblance to some animal or other form.

From Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895 Seventeenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1895-1896, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1898, pages 519-744 by Fewkes, Jesse Walter

The doctor suddenly gave way to a botryoidal hilarity.

From Soul of a Bishop by Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)

And he would also write on the blackboard any exceptionally difficult but grant-earning words, such as "empyreumatic" or "botryoidal."

From The New Machiavelli by Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)

The mineral also occurs as stalactitic or botryoidal masses with a fibrous structure, or in a massive, cellular or granular condition intermixed with calamine and clay.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 3 "Helmont, Jean" to "Hernosand" by Various