emerald
(ˈɛmərəld)
Forms: 4–7 emeraud(e, -awd(e, emraud, (4 emeraund, -rad(e, -royde, emmorant, 5 emerant, 6 amerand, emerode, emorade, emrade, -rode,) 7 hemerauld, emrald, -auld, -old, (8 emerant), 6– emerald.
[a. OF. emeraude, esmeraude, esmeralde (Fr. émeraude); cf. Pr. esmerauda, Sp., Pg. esmeralda, It. smeraldo:—Com. Romanic types *smaralda, *smaraldo, repr. L. smaragdus, a. Gr. σµάραγδος: see smaragdus. The change of gd into ld in Romanic occurs in other cases, as It. Baldacca for Bagdad. In Eng. the form with ld does not appear in our quots. before 16th c., when it may be due to Sp. influence.]
1. A precious stone of bright green colour; in mod. use exclusively applied to a variety of the Beryl species (see beryl n. 2), found chiefly in S. America, Siberia, and India.
[In early examples the word, like most other names of precious stones, is of vague meaning; the mediæval references to the stone are often based upon the descriptions given by classical writers of the smaragdus, the identity of which with our emerald is doubtful. In the AV. (as previously by Tindale) emerald has been adopted as the rendering of Heb. nōphek (LXX. ἄνθραξ, Vulg. carbunculus), a gem as to the nature of which there is no evidence.]
| c 1300 K. Alis. 7030 Grete drakis..emeraundis in mouth bare. a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. v. 26 Ase emeraude a-morewen this may haveth myht. 1481 Caxton Myrr. ii. vii. 79 The Emerawde..is..playsaunt to the eye. 1526 Tindale Rev. xxi. 19 The fourth an emeralde. 1527 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) V. 244 Unum annulum cum lapide vocato an emorade. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. 243 [249] Fine emrauds set in golde. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 454 Our cups..must be set out with hemeraulds. 1609 Bible (Douay) Ex. xxviii. 19 In the first rew shal be..the emeraud. 1634 Milton Comus 894 My chariot thick set with emerald green. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 523 A ring..having an emrold set therein between two diamonds. 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The emerald is supposed..to arrive at its greenness by slow degrees. 1842 Lytton Zanoni 28 Valleys where the birds build their nests with emeralds to attract the moths. 1861 C. King Ant. Gems (1866) 29 The Bactrian and Scythian Emeralds were considered the best. |
2. Her. The name given by English heralds to the green colour (ordinarily called
vert) when it occurs in the arms of the nobility.
| 1572 J. Bossewell Armorie ii. 60 b, The fielde is of the Topaze, a Basiliske displayed, Emeraude, cristed, Saphire. |
3. transf. as name of its colour;
= emerald-green.
| 1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 107 Scales of Brass thrice calcin'd..will make a Sea-green, an Emerald..with many other colours. |
4. Printing. The name of the size of type larger than nonpareil and smaller than minion.
5. attrib. and
Comb. a. Simple
attrib.| 1877 W. Jones Finger-ring L. 127 An emerald ring was thought to ensure purity. |
b. quasi-adj. Brilliantly green like the emerald.
| 1598 Shakes. Merry W. v. v. 74 Hony Soit Qui Mal-y-Pence, write In Emrold-tuffes. 1722 Rogers Pleas. Mem. i. 145 The glow-worm loves her emerald-light to shed. 1813 Hogg Kilmeny, The stillness that lay on the emerant lee. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 158 That vast expanse of emerald meadow. 1855 Singleton Virgil I. 8 Thou mightest have reposed This night upon the emerald foliage. |
c. Similative in
adjs., as
emerald-bright,
emerald-green,
emerald-like.
| 1614 Earl Stirling Doomes-Day, Twelfth Houre (R.), Rivers..emulate the emerauld-like grasse. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. xxv. 177 A..flame of a circular figure and Emerald green colour. 1860 Ruskin Mod. Paint. V. vi. ix. 84 The glades between emerald-bright. 1879 R. H. Elliot Written on Foreheads I. 1 The fields..were emerald green. |
d. Special combinations or phrases:
† emerald copper (
Min.)
= dioptase;
emerald cuckoo, an African cuckoo,
Chrysococcyx cupreus, with green and gold plumage;
emerald green, a durable pigment of a vivid light-green colour, prepared from the arseniate of copper;
Emerald Isle, a name given to Ireland, on account of its prevailing verdure;
emerald moth (
Entom.), a name applied to certain moths of the genera
Hipparchus,
Hemithea, and
Cleora, distinguished by their bright green colour;
emerald nickel (
Min.), a native hydrocarbonate of nickel.
| 1815 Aikin Min. 91 *Emerald Copper..occurs crystallized in lengthened dodecahedrons. |
| 1876 H. Brooks Natal iv. 136 Amongst the climbers of the coast bush there is one bird known as the *emerald cuckoo. 1937 Nature 3 July 18/1 Among the birds [found in Arabia], three are new to science, namely, a race of the common magpie, a small Scops owl, and an emerald cuckoo. 1953 R. Campbell Mamba's Precipice xi. 115 The four-note whistle of an emerald cuckoo. 1964 A. L. Thomson New Dict. Birds 170/1 The Emerald Cuckoo Chrysococcyx cupreus has plumage of brilliant golden-green with bright yellow on the body. |
| 1879 O. N. Rood Mod. Chromatics ix. 121 The pigment known as *emerald-green. |
| 1795 Dr. W. Drennan Erin in Notes & Q. Ser. ii. IX. 199 The men of the *Emerald Isle [Drennan afterwards claimed to have invented the name.] 1842 J. W. Orderson Creol. v. 46 Our friend of the Emerald Isle. |
| 1845 Westwood Brit. Moths II. 17 Hipparchus papilionarius (the large *emerald). Hemithea vernaria (the small emerald). Hemithea smaragdaria (the Essex emerald). Cleora bajularia (the blotched emerald). |
| 1848 Amer. Jrnl. Sc. Ser. ii. VI. 248 *Emerald Nickel from Texas. |