▪ I. porphyrite, n.1
(ˈpɔːfɪraɪt)
Also 6 -phirite, 7 -phyrit, -pherite.
[ad. L. porphyrītēs a purple-coloured precious stone in Egypt (Pliny), ad. Gr. πορϕυρίτης adj. like purple, π. λίθος stone of this colour, porphyry, f. πόρϕυρ-ος purple: see porphyr- and -ite1 b. So mod.F. porphyrite, in sense 2.]
† 1. = porphyry 1. Obs.
| 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xx. (Arb.) 254 Polishers of marble or porphirite. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 579 A number of columns and statues there be, all of porphyrit or red marble. 1658 W. Burton Itin. Anton. 67 It was of Porphyrite, or Red Marble Stone. |
| attrib. 1577 Harrison England ii. xiii. (1877) i. 253 Some were of porphyrite stone. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 573 The Porphyrite marble, which also commeth out of ægypt, is of a red colour. 1736 Drake Eboracum i. ii. 14 His Ashes were collected, and..put into a Porphyrite Urn. |
2. Min. A rock of porphyritic structure; a mass principally felsitic, containing also crystals of oligoclase (or sometimes orthoclase) felspar, and occasionally other minerals; = porphyry 3.
| 1796 Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 358 That [porphyry] described by Herman..and which he calls a porphyrite. It consists of small sparks of felspar, grains of quartz, splinters of hornblende, and fragments of shorl cemented together by a scarcely discernible jaspidean cement. 1878 Lawrence tr. Cotta's Rocks Class. 162 The porphyritye of the Pentland Hills, near Edinburgh, with crystals of oligoclase, and specular-iron, sparkling in a reddish-brown matrix. 1879 Rutley Stud. Rocks xii. 238 The porphyrites are..divided into diorite and diabase-porphyrites. |
▪ II. † porphyrite, a. (n.2) Obs. rare.
[ad. L. porphyrīt-is purple-coloured, a. Gr. πορϕυρῖτις.]
Purple-coloured. Also ellipt. as n.: see quot.
| 1601 Holland Pliny I. 442 The Porphyrite Figs first shew upon the tree, and ordinarily be longest tailed. The smallest Figs..come next after and beare the Porphyrites companie. [1706 Phillips, Porphyritis, a Fig of a purple Colour.] |