Definitions

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

  • noun A green, brown, yellow, or blue metamorphic silicate mineral, Ca10Mg2Al4(SiO4)5(Si2O7)2(OH)4.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A mineral occurring in tetragonal crystals of a brown to green color, rarely yellow or blue.

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

  • noun (Min.) A mineral occurring in tetragonal crystals, and also massive, of a brown to green color, rarely sulphur yellow and blue. It is a silicate of alumina and lime with some iron magnesia, and is common at Vesuvius. Also called idocrase.

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

  • noun mineralogy A yellow, green or brown mineral, a mixed calcium, magnesium and aluminium silicate sometimes used as a gemstone.

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

  • noun a green or yellow or brown mineral consisting of a hydrated silicate; it occurs as crystals in limestone and is used a gemstone

Etymologies

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

[First found in old lava on Mount Vesuvius.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Vesuvian +‎ -ite

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word vesuvianite.

Examples

  • The lamplight made the pale green vesuvianite flash and sparkle like the cold edge of a knife.

    Blind Alley Johansen, Iris 2004

  • Grossular discovery and vesuvianite contact metamorphism of limestone, diopside, wollastonite and wernerite.

    VInvesting.com 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.