Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of various dark, granite-textured, crystalline rocks rich in plagioclase and having little quartz.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The name given by Haüy to a rock included among those varieties which had before that time been generally designated by the name greenstone. Diorite consists essentially of a crystalline-granular aggregate of a triclinic feldspar and hornblende, in very varying proportions, with which are frequently associated magnetite and apatite, and sometimes mica. This rock has usually a thoroughly crystalline structure. Many of the rocks called by the name of diorite are, in all probability, altered basalts; some, however, may have resulted from the alteration of andesites, and even of gabbros. In the case of diorite, the alteration has proceeded further than it has in the diabases and melaphyres, See
greenstone and diabase.
Wiktionary
- n. geology A grey intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of plagioclase feldspar, biotite, hornblende and/or pyroxene.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Min.) An igneous, crystalline in structure, consisting essentially of a triclinic feldspar and hornblende. It includes part of what was called greenstone.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a granular crystalline intrusive rock
Etymologies
- French, from Greek diorizein, to distinguish : dia-, apart, between; see dia- + horizein, to divide, limit; see horizon. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Besides stuffs and mats, the furniture comprised chairs, beds, stools, an enormous number of vases, some in coarse pottery for common use, others in choice stone such as diorite, granite, or rock crystal very finely worked, on the fragments of all of which may be read cut in outline the names and preamble of the Pharaoh to whom the object belonged.”
History Of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 1 (of 12)
“Intrusive igneous rocks such as diorite, gabbro and granite solidify below the Earth's surface while extrusive igneous rocks such as basalt, obsidian and pumice solidify on or above the surface.”
“Laws regulating financial interactions survive from as early as the eighteenth century BC, when King Hammurabi of Babylon had a number of them written in Mesopotamian stone, or rather rock, namely superhard diorite.”
“The sketch pinned to the board refers to Cox's Osirisisis, which stands outside a Norman Foster building at Stockley Park business park near Heathrow and which is made from diorite from the eastern mountains of Egypt.”
“Well, not exactly -- but that ancient litany of 282 laws, inscribed on diorite some 3,700 years ago, did enjoin the master craftsmen of Babylon to pass on their trade and treat their apprentices fairly.”
The Huffington Post: Lapham's Quarterly: Of Apprentices and Interns
“Lava, quartz diorite and limestone formations are wondrous.”
The Huffington Post: Dwight Brown: Aruba: The Beach Is Just the Beginning...
“The diorite block was so fragile that to keep it from chipping or cracking during installation it had to be set upon several blocks of ice and nudged gently into its foundation as the ice melted away.”
“All three islands are a mix of limestone and quartz diorite.”
“The layer of sandstone with quartzite intrusions and interlayered with claystone, conglomerate and Mesozoic dykes of diorite, was cracked by tectonic movements and then dissected and eroded for 220 million years.”
“Some areas within this region have more alkaline soils, such as the Iredell series, formed over diabase, diorite, or gabbro, and may be associated with areas once known as blackjack oak prairies.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘diorite’.
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trace
utum, diorite, Mandelbrot, uropygium, bravura, vulpine, vervain, burdock, souse, shantay, legume, sinew and 26 more...
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Professional Scrabble Lexicon (TWL)
A myriad of game-changing words every Scrabble addict must have in his arsenal.
Keep in mind that these are all tried-and-true feasibly playable words selected for their handiness, i.e...paragon, pignora, ganef, suttee, origan, ohia, aioli, abasement, lehr, mho, tallow, harelike and 843 more...
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Lurking in Lovecraft
Words I've encountered in the writings of H.P. Lovecraft or in S.T. Joshi's biography - "H.P. Lovecraft: A Life."
aegipan, interdicted, acidulous, eidolon, teratologically, squamous, vigintillion, miasmal, cenotaph, necrophagous, lambent, nefandous and 80 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for diorite.
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