Search the Dictionary

To pass by degrees; to change gradually; to shade off; as, sandstone which graduates into gneiss; carnelian sometimes graduates into quartz.

body which determines its comparative roughness or hardness; texture; as, marble, sugar, sandstone, etc., of fine grain. Hard box, and linden of a softer grain. Dryden.

A variety of sandstone, usually imperfectly consolidated, consisting largely of glauconite, a silicate of iron and potash of a green color, mixed with sand and a trace of phosphate of lime.

A hard, coarse-grained siliceous sandstone; as, millstone grit; -- called also gritrock and gritstone. The name is also applied to a finer sharp-grained sandstone; as, grindstone grit.

A fossil footprint; as, the ichnites in the Triassic sandstone. Page.

An argillaceous sandstone, of a red color, and much seamed; -- found in India.

A subdivision of the British Upper Silurian lying below the Old Red Sandstone; -- so named from the Ludlow, in Western England. See the Chart of Geology.

ilurian, characterized by the formations known as the Oneida conglomerate, and the Medina sandstone. See the Chart of Geology.

A soft Tertiary sandstone; -- applied to a rock occurring in Switzerland. See Chart of Geology.

day of the lunar month, which was a holy day among the Jews. 2 Kings iv. 23. -- New Red Sandstone (Geol.), an old name for the formation immediately above the coal measures or strata, now divided into the Permian and Trias. See Sandstone. -- New style. See Style. -- New testament. See under Testament. -- New world…

us senilis), native of Mexico, covered towards the top with long white hairs. -- Old red sandstone (Geol.), a series of red sandstone rocks situated below the rocks of the Carboniferous age and comprising various strata of siliceous sandstones and conglomerates. See Sandstone, and the Chart of Geology. -- Old school,…

nus of huge vertebrates, probably dinosaurs, known only from four-toed tracks in Triassic sandstones.

Specifically: Of or pertaining to, or characterizing, Triassic and Permian sandstones of red and other colors. [Also written poikilitic.]

ubdivision of the Primordial or Cambrian period in American geology; -- so named from the sandstone of Potsdam, New York. See Chart of Geology.

A species of micaceous sandstone. -- Psam*mit"ic, a.

A silicified stem of tree fern, found in abundance in the Triassic sandstone.

Massive quartz occurring as a rock; a metamorphosed sandstone; -- called also quartz rock.

he agitation of wind waves; also (Geol.), a system of parallel ridges on the surface of a sandstone stratum.

Producing, or impregnated with, salt. Saliferous rocks (Geol.), the New Red Sandstone system of some geologists; -- so called because, in Europe, this formation contains beds of salt. The saliferous beds of New York State belong largely to the Salina period of the Upper Silurian. See the Chart of Geology.…

ific Ocean fish of the genus Gonorhynchus, having barbels about the mouth. -- Sand flag, sandstone which splits up into flagstones. -- Sand flea. (Zoöl.) (a) Any species of flea which inhabits, or breeds in, sandy places, especially the common dog flea. (b) the chigoe. (c) Any leaping amphipod crustacean; a beach fle…