Tourmaline
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A complex black or dark-coloured borosilicate mineral, compounded with various chemical elements and considered a semi-precious stone. countable, uncountable
"The floor of the chamber was tesselated, of marble and green tourmaline, and on every square of tourmaline was carven the image of a fish: as the dolphin, the conger, the cat-fish, the salmon, the tunny, the squid, and other wonders of the deep."
- 2 a mineral that is a complex borosilicate and hydroxide of aluminum containing iron and magnesium and calcium and lithium and sodium; it is usually black but occurs in transparent colored forms that are used as gemstones wordnet
- 3 A transparent gemstone cut from it. countable, uncountable
Example
More examples"Lord Juss sat in the high seat midmost of the dais, with Goldry on his right in the seat of black opal, and on his left Spitfire, throned on the alexandrite. On the dais sat likewise those other lords of Demonland, and the guests of lower degree thronged the benches and the polished tables as the wide doors opened on their silver hinges, and the Ambassador with pomp and ceremony paced up the shining floor of marble and green tourmaline."
Etymology
From French tourmaline, ultimately from Sinhalese තෝරමල්ලී (tōramallī, “carnelian”)
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.