smalt

American  

[smawlt] / smɔlt /

noun

1. a coloring agent made of blue glass produced by fusing silica, potassium carbonate, and cobalt oxide, used in powdered form to add color to vitreous materials.

---

smalt British  

/ smɔːlt /

noun

1. a type of silica glass coloured deep blue with cobalt oxide

2. a pigment made by crushing this glass, used in colouring enamels

3. the blue colour of this pigment

---

Etymology

Origin of smalt

1550–60; < Middle French < Italian smalto smalto

Example Sentences

“As for me, I will grab even this smalt chance to get a decent man in the palace,” said Auntie.

From "Taste of Salt: A Story of Modern Haiti" by Frances Temple

Among the semi-stable, must be classed cyanine or Leitch's blue, smalt, and Prussian blue.

From Field's Chromatography or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists by Salter, Thomas

The inferior kinds of smalt are occasionally adulterated with chalk.

From Field's Chromatography or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists by Salter, Thomas

With mercurous nitrate, the platinocyanide of potassium forms a thick smalt blue, and the platinidcyanide a dark blue precipitate.

From Field's Chromatography or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists by Salter, Thomas

The letters were of that exquisite shade known by the artists as smalt blue, edged heavily with gold, and round them a border of yellow, delicate sprays of wheat.

From Gypsy's Cousin Joy by Phelps, Elizabeth Stuart