rock hound

American  

Or rockhound

noun

Informal.

1. a geologist.

2. an amateur collector of rocks, fossils, or minerals.

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Etymology

Origin of rock hound

An Americanism dating back to 1920–25

Example Sentences

As a boy, I was a rock hound, and I learned how to identify minerals with the Mohs hardness test, named after the mineralogist who invented it.

From Scientific American • Sep. 3, 2021

As a full-time rock hound for more than a decade, Major has seen the culture go through something of a crystal craze.

From New York Times • Aug. 31, 2021

I'm not enough of a rock hound to know.

From The Flaming Mountain by Goodwin, Harold L. (Harold Leland)