Definitions

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

  • noun A rock formation that resembles beads, found in glassy igneous rocks.
  • noun Archaic A pearl.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A pearl.
  • noun A mineral of micaceous structure, separable into thin laminæ which are rather brittle.
  • noun In lithology, an arrangement of the devitrification products (globulites) of a glassy material into forms resembling strings of beads: a term introduced by Vogelsang.
  • noun Same as margarita, 1.

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

  • noun obsolete A pearl.
  • noun (Min.) A mineral related to the micas, but low in silica and yielding brittle folia with pearly luster.

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

  • noun mineralogy A calcium-rich member of the mica group of phyllosilicates, forming white to pinkish or yellowish-gray masses or thin laminae.
  • noun obsolete pearl

Etymologies

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

[Ultimately from Greek margarītēs, pearl, perhaps of Iranian origin; perhaps akin to Avestan mərəγa-, bird (since the two valves of some pearl-bearing bivalves resemble a pair of bird wings when spread open) .]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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