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• jasper
  jasper

  noun

  a compact, opaque, cryptocrystalline variety of quartz, usually colored red: often used in decorative carvings.
• Jasper
  Jasper

  noun

  a city in NW Alabama.

jasper

¹ American  

[jas-per] / ˈdʒæs pər /

noun

1. a compact, opaque, cryptocrystalline variety of quartz, usually colored red: often used in decorative carvings.

2. Also called jasper ware;, cameo ware. a fine, hard stoneware introduced c1775 by Wedgwood, stained various colors by metallic oxides, with raised designs in white.

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jasper ² American  

[jas-per] / ˈdʒæs pər /

noun

Older Slang.

1. a fellow; guy.

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Jasper ³ American  

[jas-per] / ˈdʒæs pər /

noun

1. a city in NW Alabama.

2. a resort town in SW Alberta, in SW Canada, on the Athabasca River: headquarters for Jasper National Park.

3. a male given name, form of Caspar.

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jasper British  

/ ˈdʒæspə /

noun

1. an opaque impure microcrystalline form of quartz, red, yellow, brown, or dark green in colour, used as a gemstone and for ornamental decoration

2. Also called: jasper ware. a dense hard stoneware, invented in 1775 by Wedgwood, capable of being stained throughout its substance with metallic oxides and used as background for applied classical decoration

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jasper Scientific  

/ jăs′pər /

1. A reddish, brown, or yellow variety of chert. Jasper usually occurs in association with iron ores and contains iron impurities that give it its color.

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Etymology

Origin of jasper¹

1300–50; Middle English jaspe, jaspre < Middle French; Old French jaspe < Latin iaspis < Greek iáspis < Semitic; compare Arabic yashb

Origin of jasper²

1895–1900, special use of proper name Jasper

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Explanation

Jasper is a hard, semiprecious stone that's usually red. One of your birthstones is jasper if you were born in the month of March. Jasper is a type of quartz that can be brown, yellow, or green, but is most often a mottled, brick red color. When geologists find jasper embedded in cracks of volcanic rocks, it looks dull and drab, but it's beautifully shiny after being polished. Jasper has been used in jewelry and decorative objects for thousands of years. The word jasper means "spotted or speckled stone," from a Greek root.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

jasper Jasper

It is set atop marquetry of turquoise and yellow Mookaite jasper from Australia, both chosen for their inclusions that give the delicate stone-setting the appearance of age.

From New York Times ● Jun. 14, 2022

How did that piece of jasper get there?

From Salon ● May 6, 2022

Just south of Ocean Shores at the tip of the C-shaped bay, you’ll find Damon Point, a half-mile peninsula famous locally for post-storm agates and red and green jasper.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 9, 2022

This strip of iron-rich jasper now cuts across the eastern shore of Hudson Bay, but it was once a hydrothermal vent on the ocean floor.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 1, 2017

Each jasper bead of red, yellow, or a combination of the two he’d chiseled down, polished, and drilled himself.

From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera

Castelli, who launched the careers of Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and others, found a similarly heterodox artistic vision in Lichtenstein’s work.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

The ever-suspicious if socially awkward Jasper certainly thinks so.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

Louise and Helena have the patience of domestic saints—Louise regarding meals, Helena regarding the “compatibility checklist” Jasper brings along to assess their progress while on vacation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

Holly Hawkesford is a midwife at Warwick Hospital and her son, Jasper, died seven hours after he was born in 2014.

From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026

He sounded like the little motor that putt-putted us around Lake Jasper in Daddy’s fishing boat.

From Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles

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