Definitions

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

  • noun An opaque or semitranslucent brown glass flecked with small metallic particles, often of copper or chromic oxide.
  • noun Any of several varieties of quartz or feldspar flecked with particles of mica, hematite, or other materials.

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

  • noun A kind of glass, containing gold-colored spangles. It was produced in the first place by the accidental (par aventure) dropping of some brass filings into a pot of melted glass.
  • noun (Min.) A variety of translucent quartz, spangled throughout with scales of yellow mica.
  • noun a variety of oligoclase with internal firelike reflections due to the presence of minute crystals, probably of hematite; sunstone.

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

  • noun A kind of glass, containing gold-colored spangles. It was produced in the first place by the accidental (par aventure) dropping of some brass filings into a pot of melted glass.
  • noun mineralogy A variety of translucent quartz, spangled throughout with scales of yellow mica.

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

  • noun a translucent quartz spangled with bits of mica or other minerals

Etymologies

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

[French, from aventure, accident (so called because of its accidental discovery or the randomness of inclusions in it); see adventure.]

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Examples

  • She sprinkled lavender and mint on his stomach, then followed the lines of the star with a piece of aventurine, mumbling of Mercury, the Roman messenger of the gods and god of travelers, and invoking the element of earth.

    Arcane Circle Linda Robertson 2011

  • She sprinkled lavender and mint on his stomach, then followed the lines of the star with a piece of aventurine, mumbling of Mercury, the Roman messenger of the gods and god of travelers, and invoking the element of earth.

    Arcane Circle Linda Robertson 2011

  • She sprinkled lavender and mint on his stomach, then followed the lines of the star with a piece of aventurine, mumbling of Mercury, the Roman messenger of the gods and god of travelers, and invoking the element of earth.

    Arcane Circle Linda Robertson 2011

  • This top seashell has both cased aventurine as well as "Psyche" which mostly turned purple for me. woohoo!

    Silver Glass Class 4 Studio Marcy - Marcy Lamberson 2009

  • This one has a small branch made of aventurine with multi shades of green leaves.

    Archive 2008-10-01 Studio Marcy - Marcy Lamberson 2008

  • This week, our Artisan Beaders' Street Team has a lovely pair of green aventurine wavy ovals, faceted jasper briolettes and sterling findings made into earrings to give away.

    Archive 2008-11-01 Studio Marcy - Marcy Lamberson 2008

  • Towards the end, I use my gold aventurine hand pulled stringer.

    Archive 2008-12-01 Studio Marcy - Marcy Lamberson 2008

  • This week, our Artisan Beaders' Street Team has a lovely pair of green aventurine wavy ovals, faceted jasper briolettes and sterling findings made into earrings to give away.

    Artisan Beadmakers Have Another Great Item To Win Studio Marcy - Marcy Lamberson 2008

  • This one has a small branch made of aventurine with multi shades of green leaves.

    Bead Makeovers- Taking Your Art In A Different Direction Studio Marcy - Marcy Lamberson 2008

  • There are quite a few options, silver, gold or palladium leaf or foil, dichro, fine silver wire, aventurine copper flakes or perhaps you're ready to try Cubic Zirconium which are also known as CZs.

    Adding "Bling" To Your Beads Studio Marcy - Marcy Lamberson 2008

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