obsidian

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“
The early dentists used a drill-like device with a hard stone such as obsidian, which is capable of puncturing bone.

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Definitions (4)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun A usually black or banded, hard volcanic glass that displays shiny, curved surfaces when fractured and is formed by rapid cooling of lava.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples

  • Flowering obsidian is a variety with white circles. —  The Lore of Gloranthan Gems and Near-Gems by Martin R. Crim Part II
  • Next to it was a cameo of native obsidian, and several of Carlos's scandalous thornwood carvings. —  The Legacy of Heorot
  • Around the staff drops of ichor hardened like beads of obsidian, and the hardening widened, spreading steadily, through the malevolent shape. —  Conan The Triumphant
  • The early dentists used a drill-like device with a hard stone such as obsidian, which is capable of puncturing bone. —  National Geographic News
  • "Xaltotun of Acheron " man, are you mad? —  The Bloody Crown of Conan
 

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Obsidian has been looked up 352 times, favorited twice, listed 63 times, and commented on 6 times.

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin obsidiānus, misreading of obsiānus (lapis), Obsian (stone), obsidian, after Obsius, a Roman who supposedly discovered it or a similar mineral.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = French obsidiane, obsidienne = Spanish Portuguese obsidiana, from Latin obsidiana, a false reading for obsiana, a mineral supposed to be obsidian, from Obsidianus, a false reading for Obsianus, from Obsius, erroneously Obsidius, the name of a man who, according to Pliny, found it in “Ethiopia.”
 

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/əbˈsɪdiən/
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