porphyry

[ pawr-fuh-ree ]

noun,plural por·phy·ries.

a very hard rock, anciently quarried in Egypt, having a dark, purplish-red groundmass containing small crystals of feldspar.
Petrology. any igneous rock containing coarse crystals, as phenocrysts, in a finer-grained groundmass.

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;see -ite¹

Words Nearby porphyry

Other definitions for Porphyry (2 of 2)

Porphyry

[ pawr-fuh-ree ]

noun

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

Other words from Porphyry

Por·phyr·e·an [pawr-feer-ee-uhn], /pɔrˈfɪər i ən/, adjective
Por·phyr·i·an, adjective, noun
Por·phyr·i·an·ist, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use porphyry in a sentence

He stood still an instant, hidden by the porphyry columns of the portico.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60, No. 372, October 1846 | Various
The crystallised ray enshrines the liquid, and the porphyry flagstones of the terraces reflect the surrounding objects like ice.
Charles Baudelaire, His Life | Thophile Gautier
In vain he sought support against one of the porphyry columns at the facade of the mosque.
The Pilgrim's Shell or Fergan the Quarryman | Eugne Sue
The river, perfectly clear of rocks, was a sheet of liquid porphyry, an arrow of dark-red water slightly flecked with foam.
Overland | John William De Forest
Now, among the spoil were some bronze gates and two rosy pillars of porphyry, very precious.
Florence and Northern Tuscany with Genoa | Edward Hutton

British Dictionary definitions for porphyry (1 of 2)

porphyry

/ (ˈpɔːfɪrɪ) /

nounplural -ries

any igneous rock with large crystals embedded in a finer groundmass of minerals
obsolete a reddish-purple rock consisting of large crystals of feldspar in a finer groundmass of feldspar, hornblende, etc

Origin of porphyry

C14 porfurie, from Late Latin porphyrītēs, from Greek porphuritēs (lithos) purple (stone), from porphuros purple

British Dictionary definitions for Porphyry (2 of 2)

Porphyry

/ (ˈpɔːfɪrɪ) /

noun

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for porphyry

porphyry

[ pôr′fə-rē ]

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

Other words from porphyry

porphyritic adjective (pôr′fə-rĭt′ĭk)

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