agate
pronunciation
How to pronounce agate in British English:
UK [ˈæɡət]
How to pronounce agate in American English:
US [ ˈæɡət]
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- Noun:
- an impure form of quartz consisting of banded chalcedony; used as a gemstone and for making mortars and pestles
Word Origin
- agate (n.)
- 1560s, from Middle French agathe (16c.), from Latin achates, from Greek akhates, the name of a river in Sicily where the stones were found (Pliny). But the river could as easily be named for the stone. The earlier English form of the word, achate (early 13c.), was directly from Latin. Figurative sense of "a diminutive person" (c. 1600) is from the now-obsolete meaning "small figures cut in agates for seals," preserved in typographer's agate (1838), the U.S. name of the 5.5-point font called in Great Britain ruby. Meaning "toy marble made of glass resembling agate" is from 1843 (colloquially called an aggie).
Example
- 1. In the third row a jacinth , an agate and anamethyst ;
- 2. He saw before him a flight of agate steps .
- 3. The natural gradations of the horn are paired with amber , caramel , and silver shades of agate stones .
- 4. Agate jade stones painted desert exploration gift collections world .
- 5. On show will be painted enamel vases , epistles to and from the emperor , as well as agate carvings and lacquer ware .