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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



521 words match “MINERAL”

SLAG n.
Metal.), a furnace, or hearth, for extracting lead from slags or poor ore. -- Slag wool, mineral wool. See under Mineral.
SMALTINE; SMALTITE n.
A tin-white or gray mineral of metallic luster. It is an arsenide of cobalt, nickel, and iron. Called also speiskobalt.
SODA n.
onate. [Colloq.] -- Sal soda. See Sodium carbonate, under Sodium. -- Soda alum (Min.), a mineral consisting of the hydrous sulphate of alumina and soda. -- Soda ash, crude sodium carbonate; -- so called because formerly obtained from the ashes of sea plants and certain other plants, as saltwort (Salsola). See under S…
SODALITE n.
A mineral of a white to blue or gray color, occuring commonly in dodecahedrons, also massive. It is a silicate of alumina and soda with some chlorine.
SODIUM n.
O3, with a slight alkaline taste resembling that of sodium carbonate. It is found in many mineral springs and also produced artificially,. It is used in cookery, in baking powders, and as a source of carbonic acid gas (carbon dioxide) for soda water. Called also cooking soda, saleratus, and technically, acid sodium car…
SOFT a.
Not tinged with mineral salts; adapted to decompose soap; as, soft water is the best for washing.
SOLUTION n.
3.6), and the like. Such solutions are much used in determining the specific gravities of minerals, and in separating them when mechanically mixed as in a pulverized rock. -- Nessler's solution. See Nesslerize. -- Solution of continuity, the separation of connection, or of connected substances or parts; -- applied, i…
SORT v.
kind or species; to agree. Nor do metals only sort and herd with metals in the earth, and minerals with minerals. Woodward. The illiberality of parents towards children makes them base, and sort with any company. Bacon.
SPA n.
A spring or mineral water; -- so called from a place of this name in Belgium.
SPAR n.
An old name for a nonmetallic mineral, usually cleavable and somewhat lustrous; as, calc spar, or calcite, fluor spar, etc. It was especially used in the case of the gangue minerals of a metalliferous vein. Blue spar, Cube spar, etc. See under Blue, Cube, etc.
SPATHIFORM a.
Resembling spar in form. "The ocherous, spathiform, and mineralized forms of uranite." Lavoisier (Trans.).
SPHENE n.
A mineral found usually in thin, wedge-shaped crystals of a yellow or green to black color. It is a silicate of titanium and calcium; titanite.
SPINEL; SPINELLE n.
A mineral occuring in octahedrons of great hardness and various colors, as red, green, blue, brown, and black, the red variety being the gem spinel ruby. It consist essentially of alumina and magnesia, but commonly contains iron and sometimes also chromium.
SPLINTERY a.
Consisting of splinters; resembling splinters; as, the splintery fracture of a mineral.
SPODUMENE n.
A mineral of a white to yellowish, purplish, or emerald-green color, occuring in prismatic crystals, often of great size. It is a silicate of aluminia and lithia. See Hiddenite.
SQUAT n.
A mineral consisting of tin ore and spar. Halliwell. Woodward. Squat snipe (Zoöl.), the jacksnipe; -- called also squatter. [Local, U.S.]
STALACTITE n.
In an extended sense, any mineral or rock of similar form and origin; as, a stalactite of lava.
STANNIC a.
, SnO2, produced artificially as a white amorphous powder, and occurring naturally in the mineral cassiterite. It is used in the manufacture of white enamels, and, under the name of putty powder, for polishing glass, etc.
STANNINE; STANNITE n.
A mineral of a steel
STAUROLITE n.
A mineral of a brown to black color occurring in prismatic crystals, often twinned so as to form groups resembling a cross. It is a silicate of aluminia and iron, and is generally found imbedded in mica schist. Called also granatite, and grenatite.
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