Adjacent Words

Gneiss definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

GNE'ISS, n. ne'is. In mineralogy, a species of aggregated rock, composed of quartz, feldspar and mica, of a structure more or less distinctly slaty. The layers, whether straight or curved, are frequently thick, but often vary considerably in the same specimen. It passes on one side into granite, from which it differs in its slaty structure, and on the other into mica slate. It is rich in metalic ores.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a laminated metamorphic rock similar to granite

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: German Gneis, alteration of Middle High German gneiste spark, from Old High German gneisto; akin to Old English fy?rgn?st spark Date: 1757 a foliated metamorphic rock corresponding in composition to a feldspathic plutonic rock (as granite) • gneissic adjective • gneissoid adjective • gneissose adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. a usu. coarse-grained metamorphic rock foliated by mineral layers, principally of feldspar, quartz, and ferromagnesian minerals. Derivatives: gneissic adj. gneissoid adj. gneissose adj. Etymology: G

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Gneiss Gneiss (n[imac]s), n. [G.] (Geol.) A crystalline rock, consisting, like granite, of quartz, feldspar, and mica, but having these materials, especially the mica, arranged in planes, so that it breaks rather easily into coarse slabs or flags. Hornblende sometimes takes the place of the mica, and it is then called hornblendic or syenitic gneiss. Similar varieties of related rocks are also called gneiss.

Moby Thesaurus

aa, abyssal rock, basalt, bedrock, block lava, brash, breccia, conglomerate, crag, druid stone, festooned pahoehoe, granite, igneous rock, lava, limestone, living rock, magma, mantlerock, metamorphic rock, monolith, pahoehoe, pillow lava, porphyry, pudding stone, regolith, rock, ropy lava, rubble, rubblestone, sandstone, sarsen, schist, scoria, scree, sedimentary rock, shelly pahoehoe, stone, talus, tufa, tuff