porphyry


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por·phy·ry

 (pôr′fə-rē)
n. pl. por·phy·ries
1. Any of various varieties of reddish-purple rock, often containing light-colored crystals, used as a decorative stone.
2. Geology Rock containing relatively large conspicuous crystals, especially of feldspar, in a fine-grained igneous matrix.

[Middle English porphiri, porfurie, purplish-red porphyry, from Old French porfire, from Italian porfiro, from Medieval Latin porphyrium, from Latin porphyrītēs, from Greek porphurītēs, from porphurā, mollusk yielding Tyrian purple, Tyrian purple garment; see purple.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

porphyry

(ˈpɔːfɪrɪ)
n, pl -ries
1. (Geological Science) any igneous rock with large crystals embedded in a finer groundmass of minerals
2. (Geological Science) obsolete a reddish-purple rock consisting of large crystals of feldspar in a finer groundmass of feldspar, hornblende, etc
[C14 porfurie, from Late Latin porphyrītēs, from Greek porphuritēs (lithos) purple (stone), from porphuros purple]

Porphyry

(ˈpɔːfɪrɪ)
n
(Biography) original name Malchus. 232–305 ad, Greek Neo-Platonist philosopher, born in Syria; disciple and biographer of Plotinus
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

por•phy•ry

(ˈpɔr fə ri)

n., pl. -ries.
1. a very hard rock, anciently quarried in Egypt, having a dark, purplish red groundmass containing small crystals of feldspar.
2. any igneous rock containing coarse crystals, as phenocrysts, in a finer-grained groundmass.
[1350–1400; Middle English porfurie, porfirie < Medieval Latin porphyreum, alter. of Latin porphyrītēs < Greek porphyritēs (líthos) porphyritic (i.e., purplish) stone =pórphyr(os) purple + -ītēs; see -ite1]
por`phy•rit′ic (-ˈrɪt ɪk) adj.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

por·phy·ry

(pôr′fə-rē)
A fine-grained igneous rock containing some relatively large crystals, especially of feldspar.
The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.porphyry - any igneous rock with crystals embedded in a finer groundmass of mineralsporphyry - any igneous rock with crystals embedded in a finer groundmass of minerals
groundmass - (geology) the matrix of fine-grained crystalline material in which larger crystals are embedded
igneous rock - rock formed by the solidification of molten magma
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations

porphyry

[ˈpɔːfɪrɪ] Npórfido m
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

porphyry

nPorphyr m
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
References in classic literature ?
"First, that on the above-mentioned Feast of the Assumption, small beer having been served to the novices in the proportion of one quart to each four, the said brother John did drain the pot at one draught to the detriment of brother Paul, brother Porphyry and brother Ambrose, who could scarce eat their none-meat of salted stock-fish on account of their exceeding dryness,"
"So too can brother Porphyry, who was with me, and brother Mark of the Spicarium, who hath been so much stirred and inwardly troubled by the sight that he now lies in a fever through it."
Taylor, with Porphyry's Introduction, 9 vols., 1812; under editorship of J.
When he chose to take a walk it was with a regular step in the entrance hall with its mosaic flooring, or in the circular gallery with its dome supported by twenty red porphyry Ionic columns, and illumined by blue painted windows.
Porthos, refreshed, had already commenced the descent, and his heavy step resounded amongst the cavities, formed and supported by columns of porphyry and granite.
"It is simply an olive porphyry." {genus species missing}
The bowl was of a species of red stone resembling porphyry; the stem was six feet in length, decorated with tufts of horse-hair dyed red.
After wandering through many marble halls, he came to a huge staircase made of porphyry, leading down to a lovely garden.
The current occasionally brings down fragments of granite and porphyry.
From the Strait of Magellan to the Colorado, a distance of about eight hundred miles, the face of the country is everywhere composed of shingle: the pebbles are chiefly of porphyry, and probably owe their origin to the rocks of the Cordillera.
A certain tendency to insanity has always attended the opening of the religious sense in men, as if they had been "blasted with excess of light." The trances of Socrates, the "union" of Plotinus, the vision of Porphyry, the conversion of Paul, the aurora of Behmen, the convulsions of George Fox and his Quakers, the illumination of Swedenborg, are of this kind.
ENPNewswire-September 5, 2019--Phase 2 Of 2019 Field Work to Commence at Jaxon Mining's Red Springs Porphyry Project