Adjacent Words

Beryl definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BER'YL,n. [L.beryllus; Eng.brilliant.]
A mineral, considered by Cleaveland as a subspecies of Emerald. Its prevailing color is green of various shades,but always pale. Its crystals are usually longer and larger than those of the precious emerald, and its structure more distinctly foliated. It is harder than the apatite,with which it has been confounded; harder and less heavy than the pycnite. The best beryls are found in Brazil, in Siberia and Ceylon, and in Dauria, on the frontiers of China. They are found in many parts of the United States.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the chief source of beryllium; colored transparent varieties are valued as gems

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French beril, from Latin beryllus, from Greek b?ryllos, back-formation from b?ryllion beryl, of Indo-Aryan origin; akin to Prakrit verulia, veluriya beryl Date: 13th century a mineral consisting of a silicate of beryllium and aluminum of great hardness that occurs in colorless hexagonal prisms when pure and in various colors (as green, blue, yellow, or pink) when not pure, that is valued as a source of gems, and that is the principal source of beryllium

Britannica Concise

Mineral composed of beryllium aluminum silicate, Be3Al2(SiO3)6, a commercial source of beryllium. Several varieties are valued as gemstones: aquamarine (pale blue-green); emerald (deep green); heliodor (golden yellow); and morganite (pink). Before 1925 beryl was used only as a gemstone, but since then many important uses have been found for beryllium (e.g., in nuclear reactors, space vehicles, and X-ray tubes). No large deposits have been found, and most production is a by-product of the mining of feldspar and mica. Brazil is a major producer; others include Zimbabwe, S. Africa, Namibia, and the U.S.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a kind of transparent precious stone, esp. pale green, blue, or yellow, and consisting of beryllium aluminium silicate in a hexagonal form. 2 a mineral species which includes this, emerald, and aquamarine. Etymology: ME f. OF f. L beryllus f. Gk berullos

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Beryl Ber"yl (b[e^]r"[i^]l), n. [F. b['e]ryl, OF. beril, L. beryllus, Gr. bh`ryllos, prob. fr. Skr. vai[dsdot][=u]rya. Cf. Brilliant.] (Min.) A mineral of great hardness, and, when transparent, of much beauty. It occurs in hexagonal prisms, commonly of a green or bluish green color, but also yellow, pink, and white. It is a silicate of aluminium and glucinum (beryllium). The aquamarine is a transparent, sea-green variety used as a gem. The emerald is another variety highly prized in jewelry, and distinguished by its deep color, which is probably due to the presence of a little oxide of chromium.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

the rendering in the Authorized Version of the Hebrew word _tarshish_, a precious stone; probably so called as being brought from Tarshish. It was one of the stones on the breastplate of the high priest (Ex. 28:20; R.V. marg., "chalcedony;" 39:13). The colour of the wheels in Ezekiel's vision was as the colour of a beryl stone (1:16; 10:9; R.V., "stone of Tarshish"). It is mentioned in Cant. 5:14; Dan. 10:6; Rev. 21:20. In Ezek. 28:13 the LXX. render the word by "chrysolite," which the Jewish historian Josephus regards as its proper translation. This also is the rendering given in the Authorized Version in the margin. That was a gold-coloured gem, the topaz of ancient authors.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ber'-il.

See STONES, PRECIOUS.