Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A green, gray, or red metamorphic rock, similar to slate but often having a wavy surface and a distinctive micaceous luster.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun One of the names given to clay-slate or argillaceous schist.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A mineral related to ottrelite.
- noun Clay slate; argillaceous schist.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun geology a type of
metamorphic rock formed from clay-rich sediments calledpelites
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word phyllite.
Examples
-
That means the rocks are quite a bit older than the Cambrian and Ordovician slate and phyllite at Beavertail, two miles to the southwest.
Of Books and the Sea greygirlbeast 2010
-
We climbed over the craggy outcrops of Cambro-Ordovician age Fort Burnside Formation and Jamestown Formation, crazily tilted beds of phyllite and slate and siltstone and stark white veins of calcite.
"Wild Leaves" (for Robert Mapplethorpe) greygirlbeast 2010
-
We climbed over the craggy outcrops of Cambro-Ordovician age Fort Burnside Formation and Jamestown Formation, crazily tilted beds of phyllite and slate and siltstone and stark white veins of calcite.
"Into a light that lingers." greygirlbeast 2010
-
I found a comfortable spot (about .44 miles northeast of the lighthouse) among the tilted beds of Cambrian-aged phyllite and slate, and I just lay there in the sun, listening to the sea and watching the birds.
"While my feet are the trunks and my head is the canopy, high..." greygirlbeast 2009
-
That means the rocks are quite a bit older than the Cambrian and Ordovician slate and phyllite at Beavertail, two miles to the southwest.
Of Books and the Sea greygirlbeast 2010
-
It was too bitterly cold to be on the western side of the island, but there was shelter from the wind below the cliffs of slate and phyllite on the eastern side.
"You will choke, choke on the air you try to breathe..." greygirlbeast 2010
-
We found a dead cormorant shattered on the phyllite boulders.
"If I'm to be your camera, then who will be your face?" greygirlbeast 2009
-
It was too bitterly cold to be on the western side of the island, but there was shelter from the wind below the cliffs of slate and phyllite on the eastern side.
"You will choke, choke on the air you try to breathe..." greygirlbeast 2010
-
We climbed down onto the snow-dappled rocks, and sat watching the sea sloshing against the tilted, contorted beds of slate and phyllite.
"If looks could kill, they probably will..." greygirlbeast 2009
-
Here, rocks of the Cambro-Ordovician Conanicut Group, specifically interstratified beds of the Fort Burnside Formation and the older Jamestown Formation form great flat tables of phyllite and siltstone, metamorphosed to varying degrees.
"Don't let the Earth in me subside..." greygirlbeast 2008
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.