Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A complex crystalline silicate containing aluminum, boron, and other elements, used in electronic instrumentation and, especially in its green, clear, and blue varieties, as a gemstone.
Wiktionary
- n. A complex black or dark coloured borosilicate mineral.
- n. A transparent gemstone cut from it.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Min.) A mineral occurring usually in three-sided or six-sided prisms terminated by rhombohedral or scalenohedral planes. Black tourmaline (schorl) is the most common variety, but there are also other varieties, as the blue (indicolite), red (rubellite), also green, brown, and white. The red and green varieties when transparent are valued as jewels.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a mineral that is a complex borosilicate and hydroxide of aluminum containing iron and magnesium and calcium and lithium and sodium; it is usually black but occurs in transparent colored forms that are used as gemstones
Etymologies
- Either directly from Sinhalese tóramalli 'carnelian', or via a cognate: German Turmalin, Portuguese tormalina, or French tourmaline (Wiktionary)
- French, from Sinhalese toramalli, carnelian. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Manufacturers have added static-reducing technology and replaced traditional wire heating coils with ceramic heating elements; many also have added a gemstone called tourmaline to the internal works — all of which, they claim, help today's dryers work faster and cause less damage than older models.”
“The tourmaline is a most complex substance; almost every stone obtained has a different composition, some varying but slightly, with mere traces of certain constituents which other stones possess in a perceptible degree.”
“In its occurrence in basic rather than in acid eruptive rocks, axinite differs from the boro-silicate tourmaline, which is usually found in granite.”
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 1 "Austria, Lower" to "Bacon"
“The Breo Roam sports watch is made from a material known as tourmaline, a naturally occurring mineral widely used as a semi-precious gemstone.”
“From time to time we have reports of coal, but the coal is never of a quality which can be burned, consisting of minerals such as tourmaline and iron ore.”
“Boric acid is also a constituent of certain silicates, such as tourmaline, axinite, and datholite.”
A Text-book of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines.
“Seaward, glimpsed through a fringe of hundred-foot coconut palms, was the ocean; beyond the reef a dark blue that grew indigo blue to the horizon, within the reef all the silken gamut of jade and emerald and tourmaline.”
“Coral patches uprose everywhere from the turquoise depths, running the gamut of green from deepest jade to palest tourmaline, over which the sea filtered changing shades, creamed lazily, or burst into white fountains of sun-flashed spray.”
“If I had to design using only three materials , they would be 24-karat gold, aquamarine and tourmaline in their crystal state.”
“She makes 50 pieces a year using semiprecious stones such as aquamarines, hessonites, chrysoprase and pink tourmaline, and ranging from £800 to £50,000.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘tourmaline’.
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Minerals and Mineralogy
List of minerals, elements, group names and geochemistry terms encountered in the science of mineralogy. I've chosen to avoid capital letters in most examples, though a great many mineral names hon...
galkhaite, xanthoconite, pyrostilpnite, polybasite, pyrargyrite, djurleite, digenite, covellite, chalcocite, cerargirite, acanthite, aeschynite and 2608 more...
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250 Cherry-Picked Words
Juicy words for the intermediate and advanced speller
consomme, miniaceous, nankeen, smaragdine, stramineous, vitellary, allemande, beguine, bransle, charabanc, margaritaceous, chaconne and 238 more...
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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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Lines
lines, line, recline, line item, incline, Line Islands, acetylcholine, aclinic line, linen, Linear A, line storm, landline and 13 more...
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Euvocalic Mineral Names
List of mineral names that are euvocalic - containing all vowels once - 3 dozen at last count.
I have thus far encountered 6 mineral names that are euryvocalic, containing all vowels o...chudobaite, coquandite, anduoite, ashburtonite, aurorite, fluorcaphite, johnbaumite, huanghoite, jouravskite, kurchatovite, kurnakovite, laumontite and 44 more...
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♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
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thing
apron, lard, clove, camphor, alfalfa, amber, caraway, juniper, kohl, lute, shale, glyph and 142 more...
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dandy's list
favourite words
cattywampus, wibble, fenagle, whisker, sneeze, wisteria, honeysuckle, clove, perihelion, glimmer, twilight, dusk and 264 more...
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wanderstar's Words
superlative, mulish, mumps, catatonic, aquiline, clandestine, phantasmagoria, chryselephantine, microfiche, mutineer, reprobate, ruthless and 312 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (T)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
tabard, tadpole, taffeta, taffy, talisman, tallgrass, tam, tamarind, tamarack, tambourine, tango, tansy and 144 more...
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word set 2
preemptively, crocodilian, gyrator, wallowing, sodbusters, electrification, manganese, swabbing, plummeted, silhouetting, careening, frothy and 101 more...
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Panvocalics
Panvocalics are words that contain all the vowels. Listed here are "euvocalics": words that have each of the five vowels only once. (These are also a kind of supervocalic.) Words that also have a "...
subcontinental, unoriental, ultraviolet, tourmaline, sequoia, jacqueminot, milquetoast, xenosaurid, thunderation, adenovirus, accoutering, absolutive and 2777 more...
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lanklenmot's Words
ineluctable, prelapsarian, bien pensant, prospero, preternatural, gratifying, iconoclast, cineast, persnickety, tumescent, galvanize, pap and 887 more...
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Damieng's Words
lupine, sapor, boz imp, imp, ovine, saracen, haberdashery, tiebar, shill, cutler, cutaway, lucite and 218 more...
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librarygoblin's words
crystal, ghost, mist, snow, labyrinth, citadel, tomb, mystery, arcane, conundrum, echo, dynamo and 389 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, T
torquate, thalassocracy, toothsome, travois, tempestuous, tone, tincture, tripwire, tether, trill, tenacious, travesty and 355 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for tourmaline.
ruzuzu For the Century Dictionary definition, see tourmalin. Jan 19, 2011
hernesheir A euvocalic word not recognized as an official mineral name by the International Mineralogical Association. Long in common usage, its use is discouraged among mineralogists.
ouaie Jun 17, 2010