QUARTZ

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A hard glossy mineral consisting of silicon dioxide in crystal form; present in most rocks (especially sandstone and granite); yellow sand is quartz with iron oxide impurities

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("quartz" is a kind of...):

mineral (solid homogeneous inorganic substances occurring in nature having a definite chemical composition)

Meronyms (substance of "quartz"):

atomic number 14; Si; silicon (a tetravalent nonmetallic element; next to oxygen it is the most abundant element in the earth's crust; occurs in clay and feldspar and granite and quartz and sand; used as a semiconductor in transistors)

silica; silicon dioxide; silicon oxide (a white or colorless vitreous insoluble solid (SiO2); various forms occur widely in the earth's crust as quartz or cristobalite or tridymite or lechatelierite)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "quartz"):

quartz crystal (a thin plate or small rod of quartz cut along certain lines and ground so that it can produce an electric signal at a constant frequency; used in crystal oscillators)

rock crystal; transparent quartz (a clear quartz used in making electronic and optical equipment)

cairngorm; smoky quartz (a smoky yellow or brown quartz)

amethyst (a transparent purple variety of quartz; used as a gemstone)

calcedony; chalcedony (a milky or greyish translucent to transparent quartz)

citrine (semiprecious yellow quartz resembling topaz)

rose quartz (a translucent rose-red variety of quartz used for ornaments)

aventurine; sunstone (a translucent quartz spangled with bits of mica or other minerals)

common topaz; false topaz; topaz (a yellow quartz)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Colorless glass made of almost pure silica

Synonyms:

crystal; lechatelierite; quartz; quartz glass; vitreous silica