Definitions

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

  • noun A common, coarse-grained, light-colored, hard igneous rock consisting chiefly of quartz, orthoclase or microcline, and mica, used in monuments and for building.
  • noun Unyielding endurance; steadfastness.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A rock composed of orthoclase-feldspar, mica, and quartz, and having a thoroughly crystalline-granular texture.
  • noun A kind of rough-grained water-ice or sherbet. Also called rock-punch and rock ice-cream. See the extract.
  • noun Same as granite-ware
  • noun In the quantitative system of classification (1902), it is proposed to apply the term granite for field purposes to all phanerocrystalline rocks composed of quartz and feldspar of any kind, with mica, hornblende, or other ferromagnesian mineral, if present in subordinate amounts. See rock.
  • noun A granite containing two micas: the granite proper of some authors.

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

  • noun (Geol.) A crystalline, granular rock, consisting of quartz, feldspar, and mica, and usually of a whitish, grayish, or flesh-red color. It differs from gneiss in not having the mica in planes, and therefore in being destitute of a schistose structure.
  • noun granite in which the mica has traces of a regular arrangement.
  • noun granite consisting of quartz and feldspar without mica, and having the quartz crystals so arranged in the transverse section like oriental characters.
  • noun granite containing feldspar in distinct crystals.
  • noun granite containing hornblende as well as mica, or, according to some authorities hornblende replacing the mica.
  • noun A Kind of ironware, coated with an enamel resembling granite.

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

  • noun A group of igneous and plutonic rocks composed primarily of feldspar and quartz. Usually contains one or more dark minerals, which may be mica, pyroxene, or amphibole. Granite is quarried for building stone, road gravel, decorative stone, and tombstones. Common colors are gray, white, pink, and yellow-brown.
  • noun uncountable, figuratively Toughness; the quality of having a thick skin or being rough.

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

  • noun something having the quality of granite (unyielding firmness)
  • noun plutonic igneous rock having visibly crystalline texture; generally composed of feldspar and mica and quartz

Etymologies

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

[Italian granito, from past participle of granire, to make grainy, from grano, grain, from Latin grānum; see gr̥ə-no- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French granit ("granite"), from Italian granito ("granite"), from granire ("to granulate"), from grano ("grain"), from Latin granum ("grain"). Compare granita.

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Examples

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  • "The road where they were parked was newly paved and straight as an arrow. The asphalt had a deep lustre, like a dull black pearl. Toward the north, out toward the Sound, mixed-use buildings had been constructed. Expensive, timeless, in glass and granite, like seven-storey gravestones."

    - 'The Quiet Girl', Peter Høeg.

    March 18, 2008

  • The Quiet Girl: come for the story, stay for the riveting roadway descriptions and the extensive collection of jaded similes!

    March 19, 2008

  • Sionnach, are you still doing your taxes? ;-)

    March 19, 2008

  • HA HA HA HA!!

    Or as O'Brian writes, "Oh, ha, ha, ha!"

    March 19, 2008