Lexic.us

Definition of Obsidian

1. Noun. Acid or granitic glass formed by the rapid cooling of lava without crystallization; usually dark, but transparent in thin pieces.

Definition of Obsidian

1. n. A kind of glass produced by volcanoes. It is usually of a black color, and opaque, except in thin splinters.

Definition of Obsidian

1. Noun. (mineral) a type of black glass produced by volcanos ¹

2. Adjective. (poetic) black ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Obsidian

1. a volcanic glass [n -S]

Medical Definition of Obsidian

1. A kind of glass produced by volcanoes. It is usually of a black colour, and opaque, except in thin splinters. In a thin section it often exhibits a fluidal structure, marked by the arrangement of microlites in the lines of the flow of the molten mass. Origin: L. Obsidianus lapis, so named, according to Pliny, after one Obsidius, who discovered it in Ethiopia: cf.F. Obsidiane, obsidienne. The later editions of Pliny read Obsianus lapis, and Obsius, instead of Obsidianus lapis, and Obsidius. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Obsidian Pictures

Click the following link to bring up a new window with an automated collection of images related to the term: Obsidian Images

Lexicographical Neighbors of Obsidian

Literary usage of Obsidian

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Science by American Association for the Advancement of Science (1883)
"Giddings, for example, has suggested that in the stratified Onion Portage site the abundance of obsidian in some levels and scarcity in others may reflect ..."

2. Elements of Chemical and Physical Geology by Gustav Bischof (1859)
"L.—obsidian and Pumicestone. Although the physical characters of obsidian, and the circumstance that melted trachyte or basalt yield, when rapidly ..."

3. The American Geologist: A Monthly Journal of Geology and Allied Sciences by Newton Horace Winchell (1889)
"The widely famed obsidian Cliff, extending half a mile and rising 150 to 200 feet above obsidian creek, which flows at its base, is situated about eleven ..."

4. Report of the Annual Meeting (1870)
"On a Specimen of obsidian from Java. By WILLIAM CHANDLER ROBERTS, FCS, FGS This paper, which was illustrated by numerous drawings and microscopical ..."

5. An elementary treatise on mineralogy and geology by Parker Cleaveland (1816)
"The preceding remarks refer chiefly to localities of vitreous obsidian. Near Tokay, in Hungary, the pearly obsidian is mingled with fragments of granite, ..."

6. Excavations at Phylakopi in Melos by British School at Athens, Thomas Dinham Atkinson (1904)
"It is characteristic of the poverty of the Stone Age in Greece that it has yielded little evidence of primary and much less of secondary working of obsidian ..."

Other Resources Relating to: Obsidian