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.
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
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 -ite 1
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
The majority of porphyry copper deposits owe their economic value to concentration by weathering processes occurring millions of years after the hosting intrusion called supergene enrichment.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2017
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
Working with Porphyry Press, a micropublisher based in McCarthy, I spent the past few years researching and writing a history of that rambunctious half-century.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 8, 2022
Porphyry deposits are typically the largest mines on Earth.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2017
Porphyry deposits are the most important source of copper and molybdenum in British Columbia, the western United States, and Central and South America.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015
On reading Porphyry, Jamblichus, and particularly Plotinus, we are surprised to hear them speaking so frequently in the same style as our theologists.
From Ecce Homo! A Critical Inquiry into the History of Jesus of Nazareth: Being a Rational Analysis of the Gospels by Holbach, Paul Henry Thiry Baron d'
Yet, even in Pausanias, in the second century of the Christian era, and still more in Plutarch and Porphyry, there remains an awful acquiescence in such wild dogmas and sacred traditions as antiquity handed down.
From Myth, Ritual And Religion, Vol. 2 (of 2) by Lang, Andrew
A new stall, a reredos, the choir repaved, rich marbles and porphyries used, and stained glass put up mainly by Clayton and Bell, were the chief items of restoration.
From Cathedral Cities of England by Gilbert, George
Many examples are banded or striated; others contain porphyritic crystals of quartz which resemble those of the felsites and porphyries.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 7 "Gyantse" to "Hallel" by Various
The term "porphyry" as commonly used includes true porphyries, monzonites, granites, and other igneous rocks.
From The Economic Aspect of Geology by Leith, C. K. (Charles Kenneth)
The grayer granites may often be used with good effect, as well as the coarse porphyries, when the gray is to be particularly warm.
From The Poetry of Architecture Or, the Architecture of the Nations of Europe Considered in its Association with Natural Scenery and National Character by Ruskin, John
Gneiss, he thinks, resulted from the detritus of granitic rocks, by means of an inappreciable cement, and formed in a way analogous to that of the porphyries.
From Lamarck, the Founder of Evolution His Life and Work by Packard, A. S. (Alpheus Spring)
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.
