porphyry

¹ American  

[pawr-fuh-ree] / ˈpɔr fə ri /

noun

plural

porphyries

1. a very hard rock, anciently quarried in Egypt, having a dark, purplish-red groundmass containing small crystals of feldspar.

2. Petrology. any igneous rock containing coarse crystals, as phenocrysts, in a finer-grained groundmass.

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Porphyry ² American  

[pawr-fuh-ree] / ˈpɔr fə ri /

noun

1. Malchus, a.d. c233–c304, Greek philosopher.

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Porphyry ¹ British  

/ ˈpɔːfɪrɪ /

noun

1. original name Malchus. 232–305 _ad , Greek Neo-Platonist philosopher, born in Syria; disciple and biographer of Plotinus

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porphyry ² British  

/ ˈpɔːfɪrɪ /

noun

1. any igneous rock with large crystals embedded in a finer groundmass of minerals

2. obsolete a reddish-purple rock consisting of large crystals of feldspar in a finer groundmass of feldspar, hornblende, etc

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porphyry Scientific  

/ pôr′fə-rē /

1. An igneous rock containing the large crystals known as phenocrysts embedded in a fine-grained matrix.

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Other Word Forms

• Porphyrean adjective
• Porphyrian adjective
• Porphyrianist noun

Etymology

Origin of porphyry

1350–1400; Middle English porfurie, porfirie < Medieval Latin porphyreum, alteration of Latin porphyrītēs < Greek porphyrī́tēs porphyry, short for porphyrī́tēs líthos porphyritic (i.e., purplish) stone, equivalent to pórphyr ( os ) purple + -ītēs; -ite ¹

Example Sentences

The team's ongoing research shows similar results for identifying porphyry copper deposits.

From Science Daily • Oct. 24, 2023

It's a square of about 7.5 metres, with a design of interlocking patterns, using inlaid stones, such as purple-coloured porphyry and yellow limestone.

From BBC • Mar. 23, 2023

Trompe l’oeil artists were also highly in demand in the decorative arts, and wealthy patrons would hire peintres-décorateurs to shellac their drawing rooms with imitation marble and porphyry.

From New York Times • Nov. 11, 2022

Under the porphyry columns and gold leaf of Albertine, Bakewell is obliged to play defense, batting back assertions such as a suggestion from Schulz that no one “would want to be an existentialist now”.

From The Guardian • Apr. 9, 2016

Like the stadium, most were being clad with natural stone, all of it German—more limestone from Franconia, basalt from the Eifel hills, granite and marble from Silesia, travertine from Thuringia, porphyry from Saxony.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown