olivine Min.
(ˈɒlɪvaɪn, -ɪn)
Also -in.
[Named 1790; f. L. olīva olive: see -ine5.]
a. A variety of chrysolite, chiefly of olive-green colour, occurring in eruptive rocks and in meteorites.
| 1794 Kirwan Min. 263 Olivin..is found generally in roundish grains. 1816 R. Jameson Min. II. 74 Olivine is nearly allied to Augite. 1879 Rutley Stud. Rocks x. 116 Olivine is a common constituent of many eruptive rocks. |
b. attrib. Containing or resembling olivine.
| 1872 W. S. Symonds Rec. Rocks i. 12 Micaceous and olivine rocks. 1884 Bookseller 6 Nov. 1190 These two books..are bound in bevel boards, with olivine edges. |
c. In comb. naming mixed minerals, as olivine-diabase, olivine-gabbro.
| 1895 A. Harker Petrol. 115 Numerous olivine-diabases are associated with the Carboniferous strata of the Midlands. Ibid. 68 The Tertiary gabbros of the western islands of Scotland..are in general olivine-gabbros. 1900 [see kentallenite]. 1936 J. S. Flett in Wilson & Knox Geol. Orkney xvii. 180 They are the only olivine-basalt dykes that have been discovered in the Orkneys. 1956 W. Edwards in D. L. Linton Sheffield 15 Boreholes in the southeastern part of the coalfield have revealed thick, sill-like beds of olivine-dolerite and analcime-dolerite. 1965 E. L. P. Mercy in G. Y. Craig Geol. of Scotland vii. 243/2 Rhythmic banding in the olivine-gabbros and troctolites has been described. |
Hence oliˈvinic, oliviˈnitic adjs., pertaining to, resembling, or containing olivine; oliviˈniferous a., containing or yielding olivine.
| 1845 Jrnl. Asiatic Soc. Bengal XIV. 294 The narrow zone of oliviniferous trap. 1894 L. Fletcher in Mineralog. Mag. X. 312 A silicate of the olivinic type. |