Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An onyx with alternating brown and white bands of sard and other minerals.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A chalcedony or agate consisting of two or more layers of brown or red combined with white or other color. Since about 1870 the name has been given to a chalcedony stained with various shades of red to deep brown.
- n. In heraldry, a tincture, the color murrey or sanguine, when blazoning is done by precious stones.
Wiktionary
- n. A gemstone having bands of red sard; a variety of onyx or chalcedony.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Min.) A variety of onyx consisting of sard and white chalcedony in alternate layers.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an onyx characterized by parallel layers of sard and a different colored mineral
Etymologies
- Middle English sardonix, probably from Latin sardonyx, from Greek sardonux : sardion, sard; see sard + onux, onyx, nail; see nogh- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Heb., but the twelfth in the Greek; it is called sardonyx and comes in the fifth place in Apoc., xxi, 20.”
“But the sardonyx was a finer stone than the amethyst, and he ended by giving me three hundred and fifty livres.”
“He drew with the sinuous curves and twining lines of Art Nouveau, and he dared to combine diamonds and precious stones with horn, ivory, agate, sardonyx, copper, brilliantly colored enamel and eventually glass.”
“I learned from sardonyx that links to Steve's Daily Kos posts can be found on Steve's dKosopedia pages.”
“The Immortal Alexander the Great," at Amsterdam's branch of the Hermitage, will include the Gonzaga Cameo, a reddish sardonyx engraving of Alexander that shows off his fabled good looks, and brightly painted manuscripts from 15th-century Persia like "Iskandar and the Hermit," created to entertain the sultans.”
“A sardonyx cameo, for example, probably a privately owned trinket in antiquity now in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, represents Livia wearing the costume of the cultic mother-goddess Cybele over her stola and contemplating a miniature bust of her deified husband, which she holds in her right hand.”
“This is secured at her shoulder with a fibula brooch of onyx and sardonyx brooches hung with delicate teardrop-shaped gems of emerald, glass, and gold, whose appearance in coin is closely paralleled in archaeological finds that have been made around Europe.13”
“It was so familiar she could see it with her fingers: the broad crescent of silver from which hung three stones: sardonyx, black opal, and bloodstone, each inscribed with spidery writing in the language of the Wildworld.”
“There are necklaces of gold papyrus blooms, rosettes, and argonauts, and polished amethyst, carnelian, and sardonyx beads.”
“At the Carolingian period, the kantharos of sardonyx was transformed into a chalice from adding a foot decorated with a circular node decorated with precious stones.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘sardonyx’.
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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color, light & sight
albedo, chromatography, chromatic, tone, penumbra, superluminal, diaphanous, iridescent, amethyst, opalescent, celadon, lapis and 38 more...
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X Marks the Spot
Words ending in "x" (except proper nouns and trademarks)
ax, ex, ox, soapbox, smallpox, six, sex, sax, rex, pressbox, climax, chickenpox and 208 more...
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I, Claudius
Words taken from I, Claudius by Robert Graves.
evocation, aureus, sestertii, denarii, assegai, pilum, framea, sibyl, propitiatory, duenna, tyrannicide, maggoty and 136 more...
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List of Heraldry Terms
Words and phrases used in blazoning heraldic devices, along with names and other terms associated with the art and science.
Other similar lists can be found on Wordnik, especially that...seiant, duciper, bourdon, pouch, scrip, staff, ananas, besant d'argent, roundle, roundel, argent, allocamelus and 743 more...
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the name of the rose
pleasing words I encounter whilst reading umberto eco's novel of the same name.
matins, lauds, prime, terce, sext, nones, vespers, compline, usurper, simoniac, heresiarch, malefactor and 230 more...
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Words That I Just Like
lagniappe, aposiopesis, o'ertake, polycephaly, Ouroboros, demiurge, fey, diaphanous, mizzenmast, uropygium, estuary, languor and 38 more...
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Sierra
S
spume, sidhe, synechdoche, schwa, serendipitous, sibilance, seminal, sussuration, seersucker, sardonyx, syllogism, solipsism and 54 more...
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Debian and other words that describe me
My real-world name is Deb and these are the words that describe me, my interests, my hobbies, my life and my outlook on Life, The Universe and Everything.
debian, flibbertigibbet, monkeyshines, awry, cheeky, emphatic, gadabout, quirky, fetish, flippant, frumpy, frazzled and 37 more...
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earthwords
fka geology
palisade, escarpment, jasper, chert, quartz, geode, ruby, lapidary, sardonyx, fieldstone, feldspar
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the dressing room - jewelry box
crown, gilt, sceptre, circlet, diadem, tiara, alabaster, gold, cat's eye, citrine, zircon, hematite and 47 more...
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lapidary
agate, jasper, garnet, ruby, sapphire, onyx, topaz, turquoise, carnelian, jade, diamond, amethyst and 27 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for sardonyx.
ruzuzu Murrey's fun, too--but you'd found that one already. Jan 7, 2013
hernesheir Great of you to notice the heraldry sense, ruzuzu. New one for me. Jan 7, 2013
ruzuzu "In heraldry, a tincture, the color murrey or sanguine, when blazoning is done by precious stones."
--CD&C Jan 7, 2013
avivamagnolia S'ARDONYX, n. L. sardonyches, from Gr. from Sardis, a city of Asia Minor, and a nail; so named, according to Pliny, from the resemblance of its color to the flesh under the nail.
A silicious stone or gem, nearly allied to carnelian. Its color is a reddish yellow, or nearly orange. We are informed that the yellow or orange colored agate, with an undulating surface, is now often called sardonyx. Jan 18, 2009
avivamagnolia
~ A variety of onyx consisting of sard and white chalcedony in alternate layers Jan 18, 2009
arby Ha ha ha! Sounds like something out of Lewis Carroll, doesn't it? May 4, 2007
reesetee You're right, arby. And as soon as I can manage it, I intend to use this word in precisely that way. :-) Mar 28, 2007
arby I wish it meant sardonic onyx, how great would that be? Mar 28, 2007
reesetee Not an especially sarcastic mineral, but a kind of chalcedony used for cameos that contains sard and chalcedony of another color, usually white, arranged in straight parallel bands. Mar 12, 2007