Definitions

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

  • noun A rare, light to dark or bluish green, translucent mineral, Al(PO4)·2H2O, found in aluminum-rich rocks and sometimes used as a semiprecious stone.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A hydrous phosphate of aluminium, occurring in crystalline or reniform crusts of a bright-green color.

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

  • noun (Min.) An apple-green mineral occurring in reniform masses. It is a hydrous phosphate of alumina.

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

  • noun A relatively rare hydrated aluminum phosphate mineral (AlPO4·2H2O), sometimes confused with turquoise.

Etymologies

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

[German Variscit, from Medieval Latin Variscia, ancient name for Vogtland, region of Germany where the mineral was discovered.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Named after the locality of Variscia, the dated name of Vogtland, Germany.

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Examples

  • This precious commodity they traded among their neighbors for some of the finest ornaments of the age: bracelets of shimmering sea shells and beads of a beautiful turquoiselike stone known as variscite.

    Prozac Nation, 4000 B.C. 2009

  • And Mr. Brul was here this morning to tell you that the variscite helped him recall a past life.

    Unfinished Symphony V.C. Andrews® 1997

  • And Mr. Brul was here this morning to tell you that the variscite helped him recall a past life.

    Unfinished Symphony V.C. Andrews® 1997

  • They served for the exploitation of variscite, a green mineral, which was used for the production of jewelry (beads for necklaces, etc.

    We Blog A Lot 2008

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