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.

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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

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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

Ultimately the goods are mill-washed, blued with smalt and dried.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 1 "Bisharin" to "Bohea" by Various

A coarse gritty texture is peculiar to smalt, whether it be the Powder Blue of the washtub and Blue Sand of the pottery, or the Dumont's and Royal Blue of the artist and high-class manufacturer.

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

Yellow Colour.—Indigo, white, and lake; or fine Dutch bice and lake, shaded with Indigo; or litmus smalt and bice, the latter predominant.

From Young's Demonstrative Translation of Scientific Secrets by Young, Daniel

Starch is used along with smalt, or stone-blue, to stiffen and clear linen.

From The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, Adapted to the Use of Private Families by Eaton, Mary, fl. 1823-1849