melanite

American  

[mel-uh-nahyt] / ˈmɛl əˌnaɪt /

noun

Mineralogy.

1. a deep black variety of andradite garnet.

---

melanite British  

/ ˈmɛləˌnaɪt /

noun

1. a black variety of andradite garnet

---

Other Word Forms

• melanitic adjective

Etymology

Origin of melanite

First recorded in 1800–10; melan- + -ite ¹

Example Sentences

All the horrors perpetrated by the Zulu tyrants cannot be published in this polite age of melanite and torpedoes; their details have, therefore, been suppressed.

From Nada the Lily by Haggard, Henry Rider

To andradite may be referred melanite, a black garnet well known from the volcanic tuffs near Rome, used occasionally in the 18th century for mourning jewelry.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 4 "G" to "Gaskell, Elizabeth" by Various

The abundance of melanite is very unusual in igneous rocks, though some syenites, leucitophyres, and aegirine-felsites resemble borolanite in this respect.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 3 "Borgia, Lucrezia" to "Bradford, John" by Various

The dark matrix consists of biotite, aegirine-augite and melanite.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 3 "Borgia, Lucrezia" to "Bradford, John" by Various

Everything was smothered with a yellowish hue from the deadly lyddite and melanite.

From The Fight for Constantinople A Story of the Gallipoli Peninsula by Westerman, Percy F. (Percy Francis)