Definitions

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

  • noun A transparent variety of zoisite, used as a gem.

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

  • noun A trichroic violet-blue variety of the mineral zoisite mined in Tanzania, used as a gemstone.

Etymologies

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

[After Tanzania.]

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Examples

  • We are number one in tanzanite and we also have minerals that can be developed on a commercial scale such as ruby, garnet, sapphire, copper, cobalt, tin, and so on.

    Investment Opportunities in Tanzania 2006

  • Royalties on rough diamonds and gemstones such as tanzanite, on the other hand, should increase from 5 per cent to 7 per cent while, at the same time, royalties for cut and polished stones should rise from zero to 3 per cent.

    AllAfrica News: Latest 2009

  • The scam plays to its conclusion, with the target holding on to the "tanzanite" while the blocker leaves, supposedly to fetch the buyer.

    IOL: News 2009

  • The super expensive silver-leathered footwear are decorated with 185 carats of tanzanite which is a rare gemstone found only in Africa …

    TREND HUNTER - The Latest Trends 2009

  • We like to get our dogs, Tanzie (short for "tanzanite") and Hobo (short for "moron") all riled up, and then let them out the door, screaming "Get the squirrel!

    Brown 2006

  • We like to get our dogs, Tanzie (short for "tanzanite") and Hobo (short for "moron") all riled up, and then let them out the door, screaming "Get the squirrel!

    Archive 2006-12-01 2006

  • At 11:15 I could attend a tanzanite seminar given by the nice man in the jewelry shop who no doubt wants to tempt us to buy a bauble but I had bought myself one of those purplish-blue stones as a special gift to myself in Tanzania, shortly after my husband died eight years ago.

    Lea Lane: Sailing On The Cheap Aboard A Repositioning Cruise Lea Lane 2011

  • I smashed a gorgeous tanzanite earring on our newly tiled bathroom floor recently.

    Cheeseburger Gothic » The Ladies Blue Room. Or something. 2010

  • "We are mounting this one now," he says, handing over an eye-popping 63-carat tanzanite stone, which, after finding a home with diamond baguettes in a white-gold setting, will cost about

    Finding Jewels in Milan 2010

  • Stephen Webster ' s latest collection is a Seven Deadly Sins set of rings, including the lust ring, made of 18-carat white gold, white diamonds and a central tanzanite, £ 98,000.

    All That Glitters This Christmas Jemima Sissons 2010

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