Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A very hard mineral composed of silica, SiO2, found worldwide in many different types of rocks, including sandstone and granite. Varieties of quartz include agate, chalcedony, chert, flint, opal, and rock crystal.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The common form of native silica, Or the oxid of silicon (SiO2). Silica is also found in nature in the minerals opal and tridymite (which see). Quartz occurs crystallized and massive, and in both states is most abundantly diffused, being one of the constituents of granite, gneiss, and many other crystalline rocks, forming quartzite and sandstone, and making up the mass of the sand of the sea-shore. When crystallized it commonly occurs in hexagonal prisms, terminated by hexagonal pyramids. It belongs, however, to the rhombohedral division of the hexagonal system, and its forms are sometimes very complex. Optically it is remarkable as exhibiting the phenomenon of circular polarization, the right- and left-handed character of the crystals optically corresponding to the arrangement of the modifying trapezohedral planes present. It scratches glass readily (hardness 7), gives fire with steel, becomes electrified by friction, and also by heating and pressure. It is infusible in the flame of the blowpipe, and insoluble in ordinary reagents except hydrofluoric acid. Its specific gravity is 2.66 when pure, and the luster vitreous or in some cases greasy to dull. The colors are various, as white or milky, gray, reddish, yellowish, or brownish, purple, blue, green. When colorless, or nearly so, and crystallized, it is known as rock-crystal (which see): here belong the “Lake George diamonds,” etc. Other distinctly crystalline varieties are the pink, called rose-quartz; the milk-white, milk-quartz; the purple or bluish-violet, amethyst; the smoky-yellow or brown, smoky quartz or Cairngorm stone, called
morion when black or nearly so; the yellow, false topaz or citrine; the aventurin, spangled with scales of mica or hematite; sagenitic, containing acicular crystals of rutile; the cat's-eye, opalescent through the presence of asbestos fibers. The cryptocrystalline varieties are named according either to color or to structure: here belong chalcedony, agate in many forms, onyx, sardonyx, carnelian, heliotrope, prase, chrysoprase, flint, hornstone, jasper, basanite, agatized wood, etc. (see these words). The transparent varieties of quartz (amethyst, smoky quartz, etc.) are used for cheap jewelry, also when colorless for spectacles (then calledpebble ), and for optical instruments. Quartz prisms are useful in spectrum analysis, since quartz is highly transparent to the ultra-violet rays. (Seespectrum .) Beautiful spheres of rock-crystal, sometimes several inches in diameter, occur in Japan. The massive colored kinds of quartz are much used as ornamental stones, especially the agates and agatized or fossil wood, onyx, etc. In these cases the colors are often produced or at least heightened by artificial means. Pulverized quartz is employed in making sandpaper; also when pure for glass-making, and in the manufacture of porcelain. Quartz-veins are often found in metamorphic rocks, and frequently contain rich deposits of gold; hence, in California and other gold-mining regions mining in the solid rock is commonly calledquartz-mining , in contradistinction to placer and hydraulic mining. See cut undergeode .
Wiktionary
- n. mineralogy The most abundant mineral on the earth's surface, of chemical composition silicon dioxide, SiO2. It occurs in a variety of forms, both crystalline and amorphous. Found in every environment.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Min.) A form of silica, or silicon dioxide (SiO2), occurring in hexagonal crystals, which are commonly colorless and transparent, but sometimes also yellow, brown, purple, green, and of other colors; also in cryptocrystalline massive forms varying in color and degree of transparency, being sometimes opaque.
WordNet 3.0
- n. colorless glass made of almost pure silica
- n. a hard glossy mineral consisting of silicon dioxide in crystal form; present in most rocks (especially sandstone and granite); yellow sand is quartz with iron oxide impurities
Etymologies
- German Quarz, from Middle High German twarc, probably from a West Slavic language (compare Czech tvrdý ("hard"), Polish twardy ("hard"), Russian твёрдый ("hard")), from Old Church Slavonic тврьдъ ("firm"), from Proto-Slavic *tvьrdъ. (Wiktionary)
- German Quarz, from Middle High German quarc, of Slavic origin. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“In addition to amethyst and citrine quartz we have the pinkish, milky quartz known as "_rose quartz_.”
A Text-Book of Precious Stones for Jewelers and the Gem-Loving Public
“Of course the yellow quartz should be sold under the proper name, _citrine quartz_.”
A Text-Book of Precious Stones for Jewelers and the Gem-Loving Public
“He called some well-characterized species of _septaria_ in my cabinet _pudding-stone, _ beautiful specimens of limpid hexagonal crystals of quartz, _common quartz_, &c.Mr. George P. Marsh, of Vermont, brings me a letter of introduction.”
Personal Memoirs of a Residence of Thirty Years with the Indian Tribes on the American Frontiers
“You find tin wherever you like to cut down to one kind o 'rock as is what they call quartz, and where there's tin in it there's a lot o' red powder as well; and when you break a bit there's the tin, all in pretty little black shiny grains.”
“Then the reefs and ledges were attacked; crushing machinery was erected, and the form of work which you call quartz mining in America had its beginning.”
The Land of the Kangaroo Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey through the Great Island Continent
“Say two hundred in quartz an 'dirt — that leaves two hundred pounds of gold.”
“He had had experience in quartz-mining before he went to Alaska, and he enjoyed the recrudescence of his old wisdom in such matters.”
“He had had experience in quartz-mining before he went to”
“Say two hundred in quartz an 'dirt -- that leaves two hundred pounds of gold.”
“Very good-humouredly the naturalist left Mr. Haye and came to them, and presently was deep in quartz and silica, and onyx and chalcedony, and all manner of stones that are precious.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘quartz’.
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Visuals
A list of words which yield surprising, beautiful, amusing, or otherwise noteworthy images here on Wordnik.
photochrom, fufluns, thank you, cool l..., postcard, picture postcard, cricket, physiological ill..., Gakuryū Ishii, ametropia, One Froggy Evening, rhodopsin, Santiago Calatrava and 636 more...
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IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
abaca, abdominal, abrasive, absorbent, absorber, accelerator, accessory, account book, accumulator, acebutolol, acetaldehyde, acetamide and 4515 more...
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Which see
A list of words with definitions containing the phrase "which see."
moteur, fancy, grass, frog, Art, illusion, battleship, duck, beaver, Seder, clam, zythiaceæ and 118 more...
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color (multi)
tiara's color lists rebuilt :)
( visual, colors, multi, descriptive, randomness )pastel, rainbow, gemstone, crystals, ore, minerals, elements, neon, northern lights, fur, sunset, sunrise and 98 more...
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silicon
chert, flint, chip, siloxane, duralumin, thyristor, siliciureted, memory chip, quartz, glass, silicium, silundum and 18 more...
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September Words-10031
During the month of September, post at least 10 new words to this list. Make sure you cite where you read the word (book/author/pg) and quote the context/sentence where you found it. If someone has...
pseudonym, Cacophony, Cannabis, Bogus, Soulless, via, celestial, Liquor, dwarf, Wretched, Gemini, quartz and 53 more...
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Polymers
"Any of numerous natural and synthetic compounds of usually high molecular weight consisting of up to millions of repeated linked units, each a relatively light and simple molecule."
-...cellulose, diamond, feldspar, nucleic acids, proteins, quartz, rubber, starch, wool, polyethylene, polypropylene, laminarin and 58 more...
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maygra
apropos, advantageous, perception, discombobulated, adumbrate, apogee, perihelion, mortmain, solitudinous, mediastinus, asumbrative, traveler and 498 more...
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Chainlink's Words
hat, opalescent, opal, emerald, sapphire, scythe, carnival, calliope, brilliant, awesome, feather, fantastic and 268 more...
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vocabulary
verisimilitude, pendulate, moxie, whimper, nary, stevedore, hubris, prodigious, super-injunction, injunction, lashings, fennel and 202 more...
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mandarine's Words
antepenultimate, metonymy, synecdoche, pop, kern, inherit, clique, scrumptious, macerate, murmur, kerning, veranda and 1068 more...
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Unusual and Random Words
My Favourite Kind
quagmire, soliloquy, aardvark, topaz, ardent, exquisite, pyromania, pyre, extravagant, obscure, quetzal, quibble and 199 more...
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words from the German
kindergarten, sturm und drang, schadenfreude, zeppelin, blitzkreig, blitz, krieg, panzer, angst, nazi, zeitgeist, doppelganger and 107 more...
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Proustian
vetiver, cheval-glass, ossature, transvertebration, orris-root, ferruginous, viaticum, rep, senescence, bengal light, madeleine, lime-blossom and 109 more...
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eloise's Words
embrace, perfect, imagine, dance, water, color, echo, hollow, sorrow, beauty, impossible, violet and 438 more...
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noele's list
vertiginous, verdant, mellifluous, serpentine, verdigris, traject, amaranthine, luminous, phosphorescent, temerous, cerulean, shapeshifter and 531 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for quartz.

ofravens Plath citations: see note at gild. Apr 14, 2008