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erally or figuratively. The habit of authority also had given his manners some peremptory hardness. Sir W. Scott.

A stone imagined by some to be of impenetrable hardness; a name given to the diamond and other substance of extreme hardness; but in modern minerology it has no technical signification. It is now a rhetorical or poetical name for the embodiment of impenetrable hardness. Opposed the rocky orb Of tenfold adamant, his amp…

Like the diamond in hardness or luster.

A mineral of great hardness, and, when transparent, of much beauty. It occurs in hexagonal prisms, commonly of a green or bluish green color, but also yellow, pink, and white. It is a silicate of aluminium and glucinum (beryllium). The aquamarine is a transparent, sea-green variety used as a gem. The emerald is another…

or, in a semimetallic form, and in colorless quadratic crystals similar to the diamond in hardness and other properties. It occurs in nature also in boracite, datolite, tourmaline, and some other minerals. Atomic weight 10.9. Symbol B.

Of or pertaining to brass; having the nature, appearance, or hardness, of brass.

f the subcutaneous tissue, esp. of the trunk or back of the neck, characterized by brawny hardness of the affected parts, sloughing of the skin and deeper tissues, and marked constitutional depression. It differs from a boil in size, tendency to spread, and the absence of a central core, and is frequently fatal. It is…

den cooling, a change of crystallization at or near the surface of, so as to increase the hardness; said of cast iron.

. -- Cold chill, an ague fit. Wright. -- Cold chisel, a chisel of peculiar strength and hardness, for cutting cold metal. Weale. -- Cold cream. See under Cream. -- Cold slaw. See Cole slaw. -- In cold blood, without excitement or passion; deliberately. He was slain in cold blood after thefight was over. Sir W. Sco…

act of perpetrating. Every commission of sin introduces into the soul a certain degree of hardness. South.

The state or quality of having crust or being like crust; hardness.

k steel, or Damascus steel, steel of the kind originally made at Damascus, famous for its hardness, and its beautiful texture, ornamented with waving lines; especially, that which is inlaid with damaskeening; -- formerly much valued for sword blades, from its great flexibility and tenacity.

xcelling in brilliancy and beautiful play of prismatic colors, and remarkable for extreme hardness.

The state of being difficult, or hard to do; hardness; arduousness; -- opposed to easiness or facility; as, the difficulty of a task or enterprise; a work of difficulty. Not being able to promote them [the interests of life] on account of the difficulty of the region. James Byrne.

Cyanite or kyanite; -- so called in allusion to its unequal hardness in two different directions. See Cyanite.

Hardness; firmness. Sir T. Browne.

An instrument for measuring the degree of hardness; especially, an instrument for testing the relative hardness of steel rails and the like.

The state or quality of being flinty; hardness; cruelty. Beau. & Fl.

ame general chemical formula. The commonest color is red, the luster is vitreous, and the hardness greater than that of quartz. The dodecahedron and trapezohedron are the common forms.

at arrangement of the particles of any 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.