Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A widespread colorless, white, or yellowish mineral, CaSO4·2H2O, used in the manufacture of plaster of Paris, various plaster products, and fertilizers.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Native hydrous sulphate of calcium, a mineral usually of a white color, but also gray, yellow, red, and when impure brown or black.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Min.) A mineral consisting of the hydrous sulphate of lime (calcium). When calcined, it forms plaster of Paris. Selenite is a transparent, crystalline variety; alabaster, a fine, white, massive variety.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A mineral consisting of the hydrated calcium sulphate. When calcined, it forms plaster of Paris.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a common white or colorless mineral (hydrated calcium sulphate) used to make cements and plasters (especially plaster of Paris)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English gipsum, from Latin gypsum, from Greek gupsos, probably of Semitic origin; akin to Arabic jibs, jiṣṣ, jaṣṣ, from Akkadian gaṣṣu.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin gypsum, from Ancient Greek γύψος.

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