Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of several common, widespread aluminum or calcium silicate minerals occurring in two internally isomorphic series, (Mg, Mn, Fe)3Al2Si3O12 and Ca3(Cr, Al, Fe)2Si3O12, generally crystallized, often embedded in igneous and metamorphic rocks, and colored red, brown, black, green, yellow, or white and used both as gemstones and as abrasives.
  • noun A dark to very dark red.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun “(Webster); cf. garnet-apple. The ult. source is the same; granat and grenade are doublets.] A common mineral species embracing many varieties, which, while conforming to the same general formula, differ in composition and hence also in color, specific gravity, and fusibility.
  • noun Nautical:
  • noun A sort of tackle fixed to the mainstay, and used to hoist in and out the cargo.
  • noun A clue-garnet.
  • noun A pendant rove through a hole in the spar-deck, hooked to a pendent tackle, and used in mounting or dismounting guns on the gun-deck. Also called gurnet.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Naut.) A tackle for hoisting cargo in or out.
  • noun See under Clew.
  • noun (Min.) A mineral having many varieties differing in color and in their constituents, but with the same crystallization (isometric), and conforming to the same general chemical formula. The commonest color is red, the luster is vitreous, and the hardness greater than that of quartz. The dodecahedron and trapezohedron are the common forms.
  • noun (Bot.) the red currant; -- so called from its transparent red color.
  • noun (Chem.) an artificial dyestuff, produced as an explosive brown crystalline substance with a green or golden luster. It consists of the potassium salt of a complex cyanogen derivative of picric acid.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun mineralogy A hard transparent mineral that is often used as gemstones and abrasives.
  • noun A dark red.
  • adjective Of a dark red colour.
  • noun nautical A tackle for hoisting cargo in or out.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any of a group of hard glassy minerals (silicates of various metals) used as gemstones and as an abrasive

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French grenate, from grenat, pomegranate-red, probably from Latin grānātum, pomegranate, from neuter of grānātus, seedy; see pomegranate.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English granate, from Old French grenate, from grenat ("pomegranate red").

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Examples

  • That sinking feeling was back … and every University of South Carolina fan clad in garnet-and-black at Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday afternoon could feel it.

    “The Drive” 2010

  • A blend of 80% merlot, 15% cabernet franc, 3% malbec and 2% petit verdot, this medium-dark garnet is very old world on the nose.

    New York Cork Club 2009

  • A blend of 80% merlot, 15% cabernet franc, 3% malbec and 2% petit verdot, this medium-dark garnet is very old world on the nose.

    The New York Cork Report: 2008

  • A blend of 80% merlot, 15% cabernet franc, 3% malbec and 2% petit verdot, this medium-dark garnet is very old world on the nose.

    The New York Cork Report: 2008

  • The name garnet has been used since ancient times.

    Garnet 2008

  • The use of "demantoid" alone, if a noun may be made from the adjective, would avoid both the confusion with the mineral olivine, and the cheapening effect of the word garnet, and would at the same time suggest some of the most striking properties of the material.

    A Text-Book of Precious Stones for Jewelers and the Gem-Loving Public Frank Bertram Wade

  • “It’s a jewel box, as well,” explained Daddy, slipping on my finger a tiny gold ring with a red stone he called a garnet.

    Flowers in the Attic V.C. Andrews 1979

  • “It’s a jewel box, as well,” explained Daddy, slipping on my finger a tiny gold ring with a red stone he called a garnet.

    Flowers in the Attic V.C. Andrews 1979

  • One case contained a set of the abrasive materials, the most important of these being garnet, which is found in great quantities in the Adirondacks.

    New York at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis 1904 Report of the New York State Commission DeLancey M. Ellis

  • Look for the so-called garnet star μ, probably the reddest star visible to the naked eye in the United States.

    A Field Book of the Stars William Tyler Olcott 1904

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