Crystal

//ˈkɹɪstəl// adj, name, noun, slang

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Made of crystal. literally, not-comparable

    "Its ceiling was crystal, around on the wall / Thickly studded were rubies and diamonds rare; / But purer than crystal, and brighter than all / Of the jewels adorning her glittering hall, / Was the mermaiden languishing there."

  2. 2
    Very clear; coherent. figuratively, not-comparable

    ""Do I make myself clear?" / "Crystal.""

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A female given name from English.

    ""Crystal's pretty. The name, I mean." Jewel shook her head. "It doesn't look like her. She looks like Beaver Cleaver." […] Crys chuckled. For the first time since she'd planted herself fiercely on Lusa's driveway that morning she sounded clear and transparent, like a child. Like the crystal she was."

  2. 2
    A surname.

    "In this exhilarating and often hilarious book, David Crystal examines why we devote so much time and energy to language games, how professionals make a career of them, and how young children instinctively take to them."

  3. 3
    A ghost town in Gunnison County, Colorado.
  4. 4
    A town in Maine.
  5. 5
    A city in Minnesota.
Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    A census-designated place in New Mexico.
  2. 7
    A city and town in North Dakota.
  3. 8
    A town in Wisconsin.
Noun
  1. 1
    A solid composed of an array of atoms or molecules possessing long-range order and arranged in a pattern which is periodic in three dimensions. countable
  2. 2
    a protective cover that protects the face of a watch wordnet
  3. 3
    A piece of glimmering, shining mineral resembling ice or glass. countable
  4. 4
    glassware made of quartz wordnet
  5. 5
    A fine type of glassware, or the material used to make it. uncountable
Show 7 more definitions
  1. 6
    a crystalline element used as a component in various electronic devices wordnet
  2. 7
    Crystal meth; methamphetamine hydrochloride. slang, uncountable

    "He tells me he's been shooting crystal, which I already pretty much know because he does not bother to keep his sleeves rolled down over the needle tracks."

  3. 8
    a rock formed by the solidification of a substance; has regularly repeating internal structure; external plane faces wordnet
  4. 9
    A person's eye. countable, figuratively, obsolete, plural-normally, uncountable

    "Come, let's away. My loue, giue me thy Lippes: Looke to my Chattels, and my Moueables: [...] Goe, cleare they Chryſtalls. Yokefellowes in Armes, let vs to France"

  5. 10
    colorless glass made of almost pure silica wordnet
  6. 11
    The glass over the dial of a watch case. countable, uncountable
  7. 12
    a solid formed by the solidification of a chemical and having a highly regular atomic structure wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English crystal, cristal, criȝstall, from Old English cristalla (“crystal”), a borrowing from Latin crystallum (“crystal, ice”) (later reinforced from Anglo-Norman cristall and Middle French cristal, from Latin crystallum), from Ancient Greek κρύσταλλος (krústallos, “clear ice”), from κρύος (krúos, “frost”), from Proto-Indo-European *krews- (“hard, hard outer surface, crust”).

Etymology 2

From Middle English crystal, cristal, criȝstall, from Old English cristalla (“crystal”), a borrowing from Latin crystallum (“crystal, ice”) (later reinforced from Anglo-Norman cristall and Middle French cristal, from Latin crystallum), from Ancient Greek κρύσταλλος (krústallos, “clear ice”), from κρύος (krúos, “frost”), from Proto-Indo-European *krews- (“hard, hard outer surface, crust”).

Next best steps

Mini challenge

Unscramble this word: crystal