Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Short for lapis lazuli (which see, under lapis).
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A mineral of a fine azure-blue color, usually in small rounded masses. It is essentially a silicate of alumina, lime, and soda, with some sodium sulphide, is often marked by yellow spots or veins of sulphide of iron, and is much valued for ornamental work. Called also
lapis lazuli , andArmenian stone .
WordNet 3.0
- n. an azure blue semiprecious stone
Examples
“He sat beside a lovely young Italian woman, who took a rosary of lapis lazuli from a velvet case and prayed fervently.”
“The ancients gave the name of sapphire also to our lapis-lazuli, which is likewise a blue stone, often speckled with shining pyrites which give it the appearance of being sprinkled with gold dust.”
“The lapis lazuli, which is found frequently among the remains as the material of seals, combs, rings, jars, and other small objects, probably came from Bactria or the adjacent regions, whence alone it is procurable at the present day.”
“Again, it is apt to be separated in an impure state from the lapis lazuli, which is an exceedingly varying and compound mineral, abounding with earthy and metallic parts in different states of oxidation and composition: hence ultramarine sometimes contains iron as a red oxide, when it has a purple cast; and sometimes the same metal as a yellow oxide, when it is of a green tone; while often it retains a portion of black sulphuret of iron, which imparts a dark and dusky hue.”
Field's Chromatography or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists
“I grind pigments using a mortar and pestle the way painters used to ground lapis lazuli, burnt sienna, and cerulean blue centuries ago.”
“They were mostly indigo, though lapis lazuli ringed her pupils, and sent forth cerulean fire to the outer edge of her iris, which hinted vermillion.”
“The illustrations, lit up in precious gold leaf and the deep blue of lapis lazuli, are as bright now as they were hundreds of years ago.”
“They made their living through pastoralism, brigandage, and export of the few resources they had to offer, including pistachios and lapis lazuli—the Hindu Kush being the only known source for this precious blue stone in the ancient world.”
“To mark the occasion, they commissioned Tiffany to forge this baton consisting of all American ingredients: California gold, Montana sapphires, Colorado copper, and lapis lazuli from Oregon.”
“Lapis lazuli necklace with gold pendants from Ur, Iraq, Sumerian civilization 2900-2350 B.C.”
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