melaphyre
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of melaphyre
C19: via French from Greek melas black + ( por ) phura purple
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.
In the older rocks, basalt has often undergone decomposition into melaphyre; and amongst the metamorphic rocks it has been changed into diorite or hornblende rock; the augite having been converted into hornblende.
From Volcanoes: Past and Present by Hull, Edward
Beaumont, Elie de, on the uplifting of mountain chains, 51, 300; influence of the rocks of melaphyre and serpentine, on pendulum experiments, 167; conjectures on the quartz strata of the Col de la Poissoniere, 266.
From COSMOS: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Vol. 1 by Humboldt, Alexander von
Murchison, Sir R., account of a large fissure through which melaphyre had been ejected, 258; classification of fossiliferous strata, 277; on the age of the Palaeosaurus and Thecodontosaurus of Bristol, 274.
From COSMOS: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Vol. 1 by Humboldt, Alexander von
Below this were found chipped flints, an adze of melaphyre, and a layer of boulders, sand, and clay, brought down by the ice from the higher valley.
From English Villages by Ditchfield, P. H. (Peter Hampson)
The rocks consist chiefly of basalt, dolerite, melaphyre and felstone.
From Volcanoes: Past and Present by Hull, Edward
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
