precious opal

American  

noun

1. any opal having a play of colors, used as a gemstone.

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Example Sentences

"Opal Matrix" has tiny specks and films of precious opal distributed through a dark volcanic rock and the mass is shaped and polished as a whole.

From A Text-Book of Precious Stones for Jewelers and the Gem-Loving Public by Wade, Frank Bertram

Most gem-stones are harder than quartz, though precious opal, turquoise, moonstone and sphene are inferior to it in hardness.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 5 "Gassendi, Pierre" to "Geocentric" by Various

In a deep recess or alcove on one side a spring of clear water gushed from the rock into a natural basin of sinter, enamelled inside and out with the precious opal.

From A Trip to Venus by Munro, John

The bird had deposited in the mother's lap an egg which beamed like the precious opal with many-coloured brilliancy.

From Fairy Tales From all Nations by Montalba, Anthony R.

An easy and indolent disposition made him gentle and childlike in his manners; and, in short, the beauty of his character, like that of the precious opal, was owing to a defect in its organization.

From Hyperion by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth