colemanite

American

[kohl-muh-nahyt] / ˈkoʊl məˌnaɪt /

noun

a mineral, hydrous calcium borate, Ca 2 B 6 O 11 ⋅5H 2 O, occurring in colorless or milky-white crystals.

colemanite British

/ ˈkəʊlməˌnaɪt /

noun

a colourless or white glassy mineral consisting of hydrated calcium borate in monoclinic crystalline form. It occurs with and is a source of borax. Formula: Ca 2 B 6 O 11 .5H 2 O

"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

Etymology

Origin of colemanite

Named in 1884 after W. T. Coleman of San Francisco, in whose mine it was found; -ite ¹

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

COLEMANITE, a hydrous calcium borate, Ca2B6O11 + 5H2O, found in California as brilliant monoclinic crystals.

From Project Gutenberg

Priceite and pandermite are hydrous calcium borates with very nearly the same composition as colemanite, and they may really be only impure forms of this species.

From Project Gutenberg

Beautifully developed crystals, up to 2 or 3 in. in length, encrust cavities in compact, white colemanite; they are colourless and transparent, and the brilliant lustre of their faces is vitreous to adamantine in character.

From Project Gutenberg

The deposits which at present constitute the principal source of domestic borax are not the playa deposits just described, but are masses of colemanite in Tertiary clays and limestones with interbedded basaltic flows.

From Project Gutenberg

The salts contained in these deposits are mainly borax, ulexite, and colemanite.

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023