jasper

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jas·per

(jăs′pər)

An opaque cryptocrystalline variety of quartz that may be red, yellow, or brown.

[Middle English jaspre, from Anglo-Norman jaspre, variant of jaspe, from Latin iaspis, iaspid-, chrysoprase, translucent quartz, chalcedony, from Greek iaspis, probably ultimately (perhaps via an Anatolian word such as Hittite yašpu-) from a Semitic source akin to Hebrew yāšəpēh, a kind of precious stone, perhaps from Akkadian yašpû, ašpû, chalcedony, jasper, perhaps of Sumerian origin.]

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.

jasper

(ˈdʒæspə)

1. (Minerals) an opaque impure microcrystalline form of quartz, red, yellow, brown, or dark green in colour, used as a gemstone and for ornamental decoration

2. (Ceramics) Also called: jasperware a dense hard stoneware, invented in 1775 by Wedgwood, capable of being stained throughout its substance with metallic oxides and used as background for applied classical decoration

[C14: from Old French jaspe, from Latin jaspis, from Greek iaspis, of Semitic origin; related to Assyrian ashpū, Arabic yashb, Hebrew yāshpheh]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

jas•per

(ˈdʒæs pər)

n.

1. an opaque cryptocrystalline variety of quartz, usu. red or brown: often used in decorative carvings.

2. Also called jas′per•ware`. a fine colored stoneware with raised designs in white.

[1300–50; Middle English jaspe, jaspre < Middle French; Old French jaspe < Latin iaspis < Greek iáspis < Semitic; compare Akkadian yašpu]

jas′per•y, adj.

jas·per

(jăs′pər)

A reddish, brown, or yellow variety of opaque quartz.

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:

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Noun

jasper - an opaque form of quartz; red or yellow or brown or dark green in color; used for ornamentation or as a gemstone

opaque gem - a gemstone that is opaque

Translations

jaspis

jaspo

jaspis

碧玉

iaspis

jaspis

jašma

jaspis

jaspe

jasp

яшма

jaspis

jasper

[ˈdʒæspəʳ] N → jaspe 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

jasper

n → Jaspis 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 ?

Jasper's breathing was so remarkably short'--thus discreetly does Mr.

Jasper has gone home quite himself, has he?' asked the Dean.

Jasper's heart may not be too much set upon his nephew.

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How does you come on, Jasper?" This yell was from close by.

'Clah to goodness if dat conceit o' yo'n strikes in, Jasper, it gwine to kill you sho'.

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"All that I can make out is that Miss Reade is going to marry Jasper Dale, and I don't like the idea one bit.

Forty years later I wrote to her, across the leagues of land and sea that divided us, and told her that Jasper Dale was dead; and I reminded her of her old promise and asked its fulfilment.

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The gates of pearl and jasper swung back upon their golden hinges, making the most ravishing music, and the Saint, stepping aside, bowed low, saying:

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About riding to the mill behind Gluglu; fishing back in the lake with their Uncle Jasper; picking pecans with Lidie's little black brood, and hauling chips in their express wagon.

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On the cloth being removed Don Antonio, taking Don Quixote by the hand, passed with him into a distant room in which there was nothing in the way of furniture except a table, apparently of jasper, resting on a pedestal of the same, upon which was set up, after the fashion of the busts of the Roman emperors, a head which seemed to be of bronze.

Don Quixote was puzzled, wondering what could be the object of such precautions; whereupon Don Antonio taking his hand passed it over the bronze head and the whole table and the pedestal of jasper on which it stood, and then said, "This head, Senor Don Quixote, has been made and fabricated by one of the greatest magicians and wizards the world ever saw, a Pole, I believe, by birth, and a pupil of the famous Escotillo of whom such marvellous stories are told.

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Huge columns carved out of single masses of marble, and inlaid from top to bottom with a hundred intricate figures wrought in costly verde antique; pulpits of the same rich materials, whose draperies hung down in many a pictured fold, the stony fabric counterfeiting the delicate work of the loom; the grand altar brilliant with polished facings and balustrades of oriental agate, jasper, verde antique, and other precious stones, whose names, even, we seldom hear-- and slabs of priceless lapis lazuli lavished every where as recklessly as if the church had owned a quarry of it.