▪ I. agate, n.
(ˈægət)
Forms: 6–7 agath, agget, agot, 6–8 agat, 7 agett, aggott, (nagget), 8 aggat, aggot, 7– agate.
[a. 16th c. Fr. agathe, ad. It. ágatha, ágata, f. L. achātes (a. Gr. ἀχάτης), whence earlier Fr. acate, acathe, and Eng. achate, also in use.]
1. a. A precious stone; a name applied to the semi-pellucid variegated chalcedonies, with the colours disposed in parallel stripes or bands, or blended in clouds, and often with curious markings due to the infiltration of other minerals; from these variations in appearance, lapidaries distinguish many varieties, as moss agate, ribbon agate, eye agate, fortification agate, zoned or banded agate, variegated agate, brecciated agate, etc.
| 1570 B. Googe Pop. Kingd. iv. (1880) 39 b, Jaspers, Chrysolytes and Agats doe appere. 1621 Lady A. Drury in Bury Wills (1850) 166 To my sister Gawdie, my agett and pearle chaine. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 381 Many fair rooms paved with Agath. 1716–8 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. I. xiv. 49 A large collection of agates..of an uncommon size. 1789 Burney Hist. Music (ed. 2) IV. v. 181 Tile them with gold and pave them with aggots. 1865 Livingstone Zambesi xii. 261 The ground is strewn with agates for a number of miles above the falls. |
b. A marble made of glass, etc., resembling agate. Also
attrib.| 1843 [see taw n.2]. 1921 Glasgow Herald 26 Nov. 6 The marbles we played with..were called ‘nicks’,..‘agates’ (black, blood and milk). 1934 Amer. Speech IX. 75/1 Agates or Aggies, marbles made of agate and usually used as shooters. 1952 J. Steinbeck East of Eden xxxvi. 365 Cal was able to develop his marble game and set about gathering in all the chalkies and immies, glassies and agates. |
† 2. fig. A very diminutive person, in allusion to small figures cut in agates for seals.
Obs.| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, i. ii. 19, I was neuer mann'd with an Agot till now. 1599 ― Much Ado iii. i. 65 If tall, a launce ill-headed: If low, an agot very vildlie cut. |
3. An instrument used by gold-wire-drawers, having an agate fixed in it for burnishing.
Cf. A glazier's
diamond.
| 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The gold wire drawers burnish their gold with an Agat; whence the instrument, made use of on that occasion, is also called an Agat. |
4. Typog. The American name of the type called in England
ruby. Also
attrib. (see
quots.).
| 1838 U.S. Mag. & Democratic Rev. I. 61 Light faced Book and Job Printing Types..Diamond, Pearl..Agate. 1871 Ringwalt Encycl. Print. 24 Agate, the American name for a size of type between Nonpareil and Pearl, and of which there are about fourteen lines to an inch. 1884 Chicago News Let. 5 Apr., Commercial advertising 20 cents per line Agate measure. 1956 F. H. Collins Authors' & Printers' Dict. (ed. 10) 8/2 Agate line (U.S.), measure advertising space, 1/14 in. deep and one column wide. |
5. Sometimes erroneously confused with
gagates, jet.
| 1661 Lovell Hist. Min. 53 Of Sulphurs, Agath, Gagates. It's..of a black, stony earth, full of bitumen. |
6. Comb. and
attrib. agate-jasper, a jasper veined or clouded with agate or chalcedony;
agate-onyx (see
quot.);
agate-ring, one made of, or set with, an agate;
agate-shell, a collector's name for the tropical genus of land-shells,
Achatina; also called
agate-snail;
agate-ware, a kind of pottery coloured to resemble agate; also, enamelled iron or steel ware for household utensils; also
attrib. Also
agate cup,
agate hole,
agate mill,
agate stone,
agate trade,
agate work, etc.;
agate eyes;
agate-bearing,
agate-eyed,
agate-forming,
agate-handle(d), etc.
| 1875 Ure Dict. Arts I. 32 The igneous origin of the *agate-bearing melaphyres. |
| 1634 Unton Inventories 32, I give and bequeath..my *nagget cup. |
| 1925 C. Day Lewis Beechen Vigil 30 Panic thereafter Came *agate-eyed, gibbering, past the gate. |
| 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. IV. li. 16 Deepest *agate eyes. |
| 1710 Steele Tatler No. 245 ¶2 An *Aggat-Handle Knife. |
| 1863 Tyndall Heat i. 30 The wires should be drawn through *agate holes. |
| 1875 Ure Dict. Arts I. 35 It is in the Idar valley, that most of the *agate-mills are situated. |
| 1747 Dingley Gems in Phil. Trans. XLIV. 505 The *Agat-Onyx, of two or more Strata of white, either opaque or transparent. 1874 Westropp Prec. Stones 46 Agate-onyx, a variety of onyx in which the upper layer is opaque and white, the lower transparent, and either colourless or a pale yellow. This is the material most frequently employed for modern carving, and is often termed the German onyx. |
| 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 78 This..Not-pated, *Agat ring, Puke stocking, Caddice garter, Smooth tongue, Spanish pouch. 1884 G. W. Tryon Struct. Conch. III. 59 Achatina, Etym. *Agate-shell..Mostly African. |
| 1889 Cent. Dict., Agate-snail. 1901 E. Step Shell Life xix. 379 The *Agate Snail (Cæcilianella acicula), though only about one-fifth of an inch in length, is interesting on several grounds. |
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. iv. 55 In shape no bigger then *Agat-stone, on the fore-finger of an Alderman. |
| 1857 J. Marryat Pottery & Porcelain (ed. 2) viii. 154 *Agate and jasper ware. 1865 Jewitt Wedgwoods Index, Agate-ware vases. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. I. 367 During the reigns of Anne and George I, an improved ware was made of sand and pipe⁓clay, coloured with oxide of copper and manganese, forming the well-known ‘agate-ware’ and ‘tortoiseshell-ware’. |
▪ II. agate, adv., orig. phr. (
əˈgeɪt)
on gate,
a gate.
[a prep.1 of state + gate n.2 way, path.] On the way, on the road; hence, a-going, in motion. (Properly a northern word.)
| 1554 Interl. Youth in Hazl. Dodsley II. 25 Go to it then hardily, and let us be agate. 1587 Holinshed Scott. Chron. (1806) I. 418 Some of the mills yet were now at low water set on gate, by reason the streams were so hugelie augmented. 1674 Ray N. Countrey Wds. s.v., Agate, just going, as I am agate. 1848 C. Brontë J. Eyre (1857) 344 I'm fear'd you have some ill plans agate. 1863 Mrs. Gaskell Sylvia's L. I. 63 And t' cursed old pressgang's agate again. |