Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A purple or violet form of transparent quartz used as a gemstone.
- n. A purple variety of corundum used as a gemstone.
- n. A moderate purple to grayish reddish purple.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A violet-blue or purple variety of quartz, the color being perhaps due to the presence of peroxid of iron. It generally occurs crystallized in six-sided prisms or pyramids; also in rolled fragments, composed of imperfect prismatic crystals. Its fracture is conchoidal or splintery. It is wrought into various articles of jewelry. The finest amethysts come from India, Ceylon, and Brazil.
- n. In heraldry, the color purple when described in blazoning a nobleman's escutcheon. See tincture.
- n. The name of a humming-bird, Calliphlox amethystina.
- n. A trade-name for certain artificial dyes of the azine class, as tetramethyl safranine and tetra-amyl safranine.
Wiktionary
- n. A transparent purple variety of quartz, used as a gemstone.
- n. uncountable A purple colour.
- n. heraldry The purple tincture when emblazoning the arms of the English nobility.
- adj. Having a colour similar to that of the gemstone
GNU Webster's 1913
- (Min.) A variety of crystallized quartz, of a purple or bluish violet color, of different shades. It is much used as a jeweler's stone.
- (Her.) A purple color in a nobleman's escutcheon, or coat of arms.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. of a moderate purple color
- n. a transparent purple variety of quartz; used as a gemstone
Etymologies
- Middle English ametist, from Old French ametiste (French améthyste), from Ancient Greek ἀμέθυστος (amethustos, "not drunk"), from ἀ- (a-, "not") + μεθύω (methuō, "I am drunk"), from μέθυ (methu, "wine"). The Greeks believed that the amethyst prevented intoxication. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English amatist, from Old French, from Latin amethystus, from Greek amethustos, not drunk or intoxicating, remedy for intoxication, amethyst : a-, not; see a-1 + *methuskein, to intoxicate (from methuein, to be drunk, from methu, wine; see medhu- in Indo-European roots). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“In the distance are the White-cloud hills, which were painted softly in amethyst on a tender green sky, and nearer are some rocky hills, which are red at all hours of daylight.”
“Then we have the "amethyst" sapphire, which varies from a red to a blue purple, being richer in colour than the ordinary amethyst, which is a form of violet-coloured quartz, but the corundum variety, which, like its companions, is called the "oriental" amethyst, is both rarer and more precious.”
“Lyra is wonderful as an independent prospector who learns from being burned; while intriguingly he does not regrets his actions but is burned more so as his obsidian and her amethyst is a fiery PSI heart and soul matching .”
Obsidian Prey-Jayne Castle « The Merry Genre Go Round Reviews
“Purple quartz is known as amethyst; white is milky quartz; black is smoky quartz; pink is rose quartz, and yellow or orange is citrine.”
“Perhaps the compromise of the customary amethyst, which is now most popularly used, for Episcopal rings, being a combination of the blue and the red, may typify a blending of more human qualities!”
“The amethyst is a precious stone, clear and translucent, with a colour inclining to purple.”
“The Greek name alludes to the popular belief that the amethyst was a preventive of intoxication; hence beakers were made of amethyst for carousals, and inveterate drinkers wore amulets made of it to counteract the action of wine.”
“The amethyst is a brilliant transparent stone of a purple colour resembling that of diluted wine and varying in shade from the violet purple to rose.”
“In Greek this sound happens to mean "not intoxicated"; hence, without more ado, the ancients declared that the amethyst was a preventive of, and a cure for, drunkenness.”
“It is most probable that the stone described by Marco Polo was not a ruby, but an amethyst, which is found in large crystals in Ceylon, and which modern mineralogists believe to be the "hyacinth" of the ancients.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘amethyst’.
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important
shamanism, consol, sanguine, iffy, affinity, concatenation, honed, innumberable, aiden, inexorable, vet, suss and 176 more...
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henryar's list
marmoleum, menagerie, cyan, ochre, pilfer, discombobulate, loquacious, iridescent, amethyst, derelict, botulism, equilibrium and 240 more...
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Uncommon Colours
azure, myrtle, periwinkle, viridian, jade, emerald, lime, chartreuse, asparagus, celadon, harlequin, olive and 147 more...
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Colour Me Happy
violet, lavender, rose, eggshell, mauve, fuschia, grey, azure, almond, sienna, purple, periwinkle and 71 more...
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GUG
GUG
viper, iceberg, dalai lama, friendship, brooch, western, avalanche, swine, mission, bubble, amethyst, story and 1 more...
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color, light & sight
albedo, chromatography, chromatic, tone, penumbra, superluminal, diaphanous, iridescent, amethyst, opalescent, celadon, lapis and 35 more...
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Mr. Pronunciation's Bad Day
Mr. Pronunciation is an upstanding and reliable sort of dude. He's like the Clark Kent of the pronunciation world. Sometimes, though, he botches up a pronunciation and, you know, he's in a hurry an...
colonel, treacle, cruel, laissez faire, poo, stupid, sashay, concrete, birthmark, chic, draught, gaur and 11 more...
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Pretty Words
Words that sound pretty.
ethereal, ephemeral, iridescent, shimmer, wisp, whisper, charisma, crescent, azure, mystery, fantasy, miracle and 142 more...
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Colors
Words for colors, including things so associated with a color that they can be used in reference to a color.
red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, purple, navy, lavender, turquoise, chartreuse and 218 more...
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Flutter
tuberose, golden apple, apple cider, unicorn, extraordinary, Pleiades, Merope, speckle, glitter, rose, pitter-pat, whale and 314 more...
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color me mauve
color words
albescent, ecru, eggshell, mauve, taupe, ochre, ashen, goldenrod, gamboge, cream, saffron, mustard and 109 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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If-Christ-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-...
Words that have been used as baby names, including virtue names, nature names, place names, etc.
The title is an actual name given to a Puritan boy in the 17th century.faith, hope, grace, charity, chastity, prudence, patience, temperance, river, phoenix, stone, violet and 455 more...
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Because I like them: A -- B
abacinate, aberdevine, ablepsy, abuccinate, acarology, acipenserine, abactor, adamantine, addressin, aeoline, ahimsa, agelast and 151 more...
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Misc. Words.
Words I like to use, words I like but may forget.
corrosion, astonish, solace, ferment, continuum, kinesthetic, permeate, repose, caprice, cardinal, discourse, surrender and 610 more...
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Sweet Smoke of Rhetoric
The ones with which I flavor my speech, and the ones I love to find peppered in literature.
perspicacious, acerbic, vituperation, loquacious, castigate, vitriolic, scintillating, provenance, frolic, attendant, pursuant, epistemology and 313 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for amethyst.
sonofgroucho For example, see here. Apr 14, 2007