glyptic

American  

[glip-tik] / ˈglɪp tɪk /

adjective

1. of or relating to carving or engraving on gems or the like.

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noun

1. the act or process of producing glyptic ornaments.

glyptic British  

/ ˈɡlɪptɪk /

adjective

1. of or relating to engraving or carving, esp on precious stones

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Etymology

Origin of glyptic

1810–20; < Greek glyptikós of engraving, of stone carving, equivalent to gly-pt ( ós ) carved (verbid of glýphein to engrave, hollow out) + -ikos -ic

Example Sentences

Now this glyptic business, begun long before the first palæolithic man trod earth, is far advanced; the river has sunk a gulley of near two hundred feet through the solid rock, and still pursues her way in the nether darkness, gnawing ceaselessly at the stone and leaving the marks of her earlier labours high up on either side of the present channel.

From Project Gutenberg

In the same historical district, where stand the ruins of Karakoram—long the centre of Turki and later of Mongol power—other inscribed monuments have also been found, all apparently in the same Turki language and script, but quite distinct from the glyptic rock carvings of the Upper Yenisei river, Siberia.

From Project Gutenberg

Speed skating is a contained, glyptic art, etching heat applied to ice.

From Time Magazine Archive

She went to the uneven parallel bars, where she had scored back-to-back 10s in Montreal, and started her routine with glyptic precision and dancer's grace.

From Time Magazine Archive

The first scene, where husband, wife and wife's lover trade epigrams, has some of the flavor of the early Noel Coward�without, unfortunately, Coward's fine, glyptic phrasing.

From Time Magazine Archive