Definitions

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

  • noun A yellow to white, glassy monoclinic mineral of the potassium feldspar group that forms from relatively high-temperature magmas.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A variety of orthoclase feldspar, occurring in glassy transparent crystals in lava, trachyte, and other volcanic rocks, chiefly those of comparatively recent age. It usually contains more or less soda.

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

  • noun (Min.) A variety of orthoclase feldspar common in certain eruptive rocks, as trachyte; -- called also glassy feldspar.

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

  • noun mineralogy A variety of orthoclase feldspar found as tabular crystals embedded in volcanic rocks. It sometimes reflects a blue sheen along crystal planes. This phenomenon is called adularescence, and sanidine with this property is called moonstone.

Etymologies

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

[Greek sanis, sanid-, board (from its flat crystals) + –ine.]

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