Adjacent Words

Agate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

AGA'TE, adv. [a and gate.] On the way; going. Obs.
AG'ATE, n. [Gr. so called, says Pliny, 34, 10, because found near a river of that name in Sicily. So also Solinus and Isidore. But Bochart, with more probability, deduces it from the Punic and Hebrew, and with a different prefix, spotted. The word is used, Genesis 30 and 31, to describe the speckled and spotted cattle of Laban and Jacob.]
A class of siliceous, semi-pellucid gems of many varieties, consisting of quartz-crystal, flint, horn-stone, chalcedony, amethyst, jasper, cornealian, heliotrope, and jade, in various combinations, variegated with dots, zones, filaments, ramifications, arborizations, and various figures. Agates seem to have been formed by successive layers of siliceous earth, on the sides of cavities which they now fill entirely or in part.
They are esteemed the least valuable of the precious stones. Even in Pliny's time, they were in little estimation. They are found in rocks, in the form of fragments, in nodules, in small rounded lumps, rarely in stalactites. Their colors are various. They are used for rings, seals, cups, beads, boxes and handles of small utensils.
AG'ATE, n. An instrument used by goldwire drawers, so called from the agate in the middle of it.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an impure form of quartz consisting of banded chalcedony; used as a gemstone and for making mortars and pestles

Merriam Webster's

noun Usage: often attributive Etymology: Middle French, from Latin achates, from Greek achat?s Date: 1570 1. a fine-grained variegated chalcedony having its colors arranged in stripes, blended in clouds, or showing mosslike forms 2. something made of or fitted with agate: as a. a drawplate used by gold-wire drawers b. a playing marble of agate 3. a. a size of type approximately 5 1/2 point b. condensed information (as advertisements or box scores) set especially in agate type

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 any of several varieties of hard usu. streaked chalcedony. 2 a coloured toy marble resembling this. Etymology: F agate, -the, f. L achates f. Gk akhates

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Agate A*gate", adv. [Pref. a- on + gate way.] On the way; agoing; as, to be agate; to set the bells agate. [Obs.] --Cotgrave.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Agate Ag"ate, n. [F. agate, It. agata, L. achates, fr. Gr. ?.] 1. (Min.) A semipellucid, uncrystallized variety of quartz, presenting various tints in the same specimen. Its colors are delicately arranged in stripes or bands, or blended in clouds. Note: The fortification agate, or Scotch pebble, the moss agate, the clouded agate, etc., are familiar varieties. 2. (Print.) A kind of type, larger than pearl and smaller than nonpareil; in England called ruby. Note: This line is printed in the type called agate. 3. A diminutive person; so called in allusion to the small figures cut in agate for rings and seals. [Obs.] --Shak. 4. A tool used by gold-wire drawers, bookbinders, etc.; -- so called from the agate fixed in it for burnishing.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Chalcedony Chal*ced"o*ny (k[a^]l*s[e^]d"[-o]*n[y^] or k[a^]l"s[-e]*d[-o]*n[y^]; 277), n.; pl. Chalcedonies (-n[i^]z). [ L. chalcedonius, fr. Gr. CHalkhdw`n Chalcedon, a town in Asia Minor, opposite to Byzantium: cf. calc['e]doine, OE. calcidoine, casidoyne. Cf. Cassidony.] (Min.) A cryptocrystalline, translucent variety of quartz, having usually a whitish color, and a luster nearly like wax. [Written also calcedony.] Note: When chalcedony is variegated with with spots or figures, or arranged in differently colored layers, it is called agate; and if by reason of the thickness, color, and arrangement of the layers it is suitable for being carved into cameos, it is called onyx. Chrysoprase is green chalcedony; carnelian, a flesh red, and sard, a brownish red variety.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(agates) Agate is a very hard stone which is used to make jewellery. N-VAR

Easton's Bible Dictionary

(Heb. shebo), a precious stone in the breast-plate of the high priest (Ex. 28:19; 39:12), the second in the third row. This may be the agate properly so called, a semi-transparent crystallized quartz, probably brought from Sheba, whence its name. In Isa. 54:12 and Ezek. 27:16, this word is the rendering of the Hebrew cadcod, which means "ruddy," and denotes a variety of minutely crystalline silica more or less in bands of different tints.

This word is from the Greek name of a stone found in the river Achates in Sicily.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

See STONES, PRECIOUS.