‖ amiant(h)us
(æmɪˈæntəs, -θəs)
[L. amiantus, a. Gr. ἀµίαντος undefiled, undefilable; also subst. the mineral, because freed from all stains by being thrown in the fire, it being itself incombustible. Spelling corrupted by confusion with polyanthus, etc. The correct form amiantus should be used.]
1. A mineral, a variety of asbestos, splitting into long flexible pearly white fibres, which have been woven into a fabric.
| 1668 Wilkins Real Char. ii. iii. §2. 62 Middle Prized Stones..Incombustible nature..Amiantus, Asbestus. 1671 Phil. Trans. VI. 2167 That Lanuginous Stone, called Amianthus. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict., Amianthus, call'd by us sometimes Earthflax, and sometimes Salamander's Hair. 1750 Leonardus's Mirr. Stones 75 Amiantus or Amianthus..is not to be destroyed by Fire. 1866 Ruskin Eth. Dust 76 Here is amianthus, for instance, which is quite as fine and soft as any cotton thread you ever sewed with. |
2. A fibrous kind of chrysolite of a greenish colour; the ἀµίαντος of Dioscorides.
| 1862 Dana Man. Geol. §18. 61 Serpentine..also delicately fibrous, and then called amianthus or chrysolite. |