sapphire
(ˈsæfaɪə(r))
Forms: 3–6 saphyr, 3–7 saphir, 4–5 safir(e, (zaphire), safer(e, 4–6 saffer(e, safyr(e, sapher, 4– 7 saphyre, 4–8 saphire, 5 saffyr, saffre, safewr, (safour, safur), 5–6 Sc. sapheir, 6 saphere, saphier, (safure, saffure, -oure, Sc. saufir), 7 sappheir, Sc. saiffer, 8–9 sapphyr, 8– sapphire.
[a. OF. safir (12th c. in Littré), mod.F. saphir (Pr. saphir, safir, Sp. zafir, zafiro, Pg. safira, zafira, It. zaffiro), ad. L. sapphīr-us, also sapp(h)ir (both fem.), a. Gr. σάπϕειρος, fem., said to mean lapis lazuli (our sapphire being perh. the ὑάκινθος, L. hyacinthus); prob. a. some Semitic form, cf. Hebr. sappīr, rendered σάπϕειρος, sapphirus in the LXX and Vulg.
The word, however, does not appear to be ultimately of Semitic origin. As Heb. sappīr may represent an earlier *sampīr (cf. Jewish Aramaic sampīrīnā), some scholars have conjectured that the source may be Skr. {cced}anipriya (lit. ‘dear to the planet Saturn’), the name of some dark gem, perh. sapphire or emerald. The Pers. saffīr and mod.Arab. {cced}afir may be from Greek.]
1. a. A precious stone of a beautiful transparent blue. It is a variety of native alumina akin to the ruby.
| a 1272 Luue Ron 173 in O.E. Misc. 98 Hwat spekstu of eny stone..Of iaspe, of saphir, of sardone. 13.. K. Alis. 5667 (Bodl. MS.), Safyres Smaragdes & Margarites. 1340 Ayenb. 82 Hy weneþ of a gles þet hit by a safir. c 1386 Chaucer Monk's T. 478 Of Rubies, saphires [v.rr. safferys, safers], and of peerles white Were alle hise clothes brouded vp and doun. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 159 A poore man proud is nat comendable, Nor a fayr saphir set in a copir ryng. c 1450 Guy Warw. (C.) 11403 Some were of safewrs and some of saradyn. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝ ear 464 With stanis of Beriall deir, Dyamountis and Sapheir. 1554 Bury Wills (Camden) 145 Oon gold ringe w{supt} a saffer. 1583 Greene Mamillia Wks. (Grosart) II. 61 Though the Polipe chaungeth colour euery houre: yet the Saphyre will cracke before it consent to disloyaltie. 1597 Shakes. Lover's Compl. 215 The heauen hewd Saphir. 1624 Quarles Sion's Sonn. Div. Poems (1630) 299 With veines, like Saphyres, winding in and out. 1676 Evelyn Diary 26 Aug., He reported prodigious depth of ice, blew as a sapphire, and as transparent. 1711 Pope Temp. Fame 252 Bright azure rays from lively sapphyrs stream. 1873 Black Pr. Thule (1874) 13 The sky..was as blue and clear as the heart of a sapphire. |
b. Min. Used as a general name for all the precious transparent varieties of native crystalline alumina, including the ruby. A colourless variety is called
white sapphire or
water sapphire.
| 1668 Wilkins Real Char. 68 Saphire White. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 215 There are three sorts, one perfect Blue, and very hard... The second is perfect White, and very hard... The third, called Water-Saphires, are of small Esteem, being not so hard as the other, and commonly of a dead Waterish Colour. 1829 Crawfurd Jrnl. Emb. to Crt. of Ava (1834) II. 201 All the varieties of the sapphire, as well as the spinelle, are found together. 1834 M{supc}Culloch Dict. Comm. (ed. 2) s.v., The red sapphire, or Oriental ruby. |
c. transf. and
fig.| 14.. Hoccleve Min. Poems (1892) 70 Lady, þat clept art ‘modir of mercy’, Noble saphir. 1614 Drummond of Hawthornden Poems ii. Sonn. ii, Those Eyes, those sparkling Saphires of Delight! 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 605 Now glow'd the Firmament With living Saphirs. |
d. The pure bright blue of the sapphire.
| 1686 Goad Celest. Bodies i. v. 14 He [the Sun] brighteth the Air into a chearful Saphir. 1813 Byron Corsair iii. i, Again his waves in milder tints unfold Their long array of sapphire and of gold. 1855 Tennyson Maud i. xviii. vi, It seems that I am happy, that to me A livelier emerald twinkles in the grass, A purer sapphire melts into the sea. |
e. Her. The tincture blue or azure, in blazoning by the names of precious stones.
| 1562 Leigh Armorie 12 Azure..whose preciouse stone is the Saphier. 1572 J. Bossewell Armourie II. 90 Hys fielde is of the Saphire, the Sunne propre; or thus. He beareth Azure, a Sunne d'Or. 1777 Porny Elem. Her. (ed. 3) 109 Party per Saltier Sapphire and Pearl. |
f. A sapphire used as a stylus for gramophone records.
| 1943 Electronic Engin. XVI. 121/2 The portion of the wire between the ribbon and the sapphire provides sufficient vertical compliance to minimise mechanical noise. 1957 [see playing-life s.v. playing vbl. n. 2]. 1964 P. J. Guy Disc Recording & Reproduction vii. 99 In the author's experience some sapphires have a very much shorter life. |
2. a. A name for certain humming-birds.
| 1843 Penny Cycl. XXV. 272/2 [Humming-Birds.] The Sapphires. 1861 Gould Trochilidæ V. Pl. 330 Eucephala Grayi, Blue-headed Sapphire. Ibid. 342 Hylocharis sapphirinus. Red-throated Sapphire. |
b. A sapphire mink (see sense 3 c).
| 1951 Genetics XXXVI. 575 Several color phases result from the combination of two or more of these mutant genes, the sapphire..and the ‘red-eyed’ pastel..being of most commercial importance at the present time. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
sapphire-blaze,
sapphire-blue (
adj. and
n.),
sapphire colour,
sapphire crown,
sapphire hue,
sapphire jewel,
sapphire ring,
sapphire throne;
sapphire needle,
sapphire point,
sapphire stylus (sense 1 f);
sapphire-coloured,
sapphire-hued,
sapphire-shot,
sapphire visaged adjs.;
† sapphire loop (see
loop n.4 2);
sapphire quartz, a rare indigo-blue variety of quartz;
= siderite1 5;
sapphire stone = sense 1.
| 1754 Gray Poesy 99 The living Throne, the *sapphire⁓blaze, Where angels tremble while they gaze. |
| 1782 Latham Gen. Synopsis Birds II. 775 The fore part of the neck and breast are of a rich *sapphire blue. 1798 Greville in Phil. Trans. LXXXVIII. 420, I have some specimens of a sapphire-blue stone. 1885 A. Brassey The Trades 390 Another sea, of the deepest and clearest sapphire-blue. |
| 1477 Norton Ord. Alch. v. in Ashm. (1652) 65 The *Saphire Colour, that Orient Blewe. |
| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia ii. (Sommer) 152 b, There fall those *Saphir-coloured brookes. c 1630 Milton Ode Sol. Music 7 That undisturbed Song of pure content, Ay sung before the saphire-colour'd throne. |
| 1634 ― Comus 26 And gives them leave to wear their *Saphire crowns. |
| c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 8 They had on bawderykys alle of *saffer hewe. |
| 1446 ― Nightingale Poems ii. 2 Towardes Even the *Saphyre⁓huwed sky Was westward meynt with many Rowes Rede. |
| 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 578 He wore about his necke a *saphire jewel. |
| c 1400–1548 *Sapphire loop [see loop n.4 2]. |
| 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 740/1 *Sapphire needle. 1943 Gramophone Dec. 107/2 In the last two years of manufacture of radiograms in this country practically all of them came thru with sapphire needles as standard equipment. |
| 1899 T. Eaton & Co. Catal. Spring & Summer 191 Graphophone Supplies... Recorder, with *sapphire point, $5.00. Reproducer, with sapphire point, $5.00. 1972 Country Life 28 Dec. 1777 We..listened avidly to Mr Alfred Heather's rendering of I'll sing thee songs of Araby on our sapphire-point Pathé gramophone. |
| 1868 J. D. Dana Syst. Min. (ed. 5) 193 Siderite, or *Sapphire⁓quartz. Of indigo or Berlin-blue color. 1904 L. J. Spencer tr. M. Bauer's Precious Stones 488 Sapphire-quartz (azure⁓quartz or siderite) is a blue, crystalline quartz... It is used to a very small extent and is correspondingly low in price. 1971 Country Life 3 June 1382/3 Quartz, however, may be variously tinted:..sapphire quartz—blue; [etc.]. |
| 1634–5 in Anc. Invent. (Halliw.) 6 One *Sapphire ringe. |
| 1883 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 95 Yet such a *sapphire⁓shot, Charged, steepèd sky will not Stain light. |
| 1382 Wyclif Exod. xxiv. 10 As a werk of a *saphire stoon. c 1820 S. Rogers Italy (1839) 6 The lake Blue as a sapphire-stone. |
| 1947 Gramophone Oct. 74/1 This..has the..replaceable *sapphire stylus, for which the makers claim 1,000 playings before replacement is necessary. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XVII. 54/1 When, between 1933 and 1935, attempts were made to use sapphire styli with electrical pickups weighing 50 to 150 grams.., record wear was found to be excessive. |
| 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 758 A *Saphir Throne, inlaid with pure Amber. 1745–6 Collins Ode Poet. Char. 32 Himself..plac'd her on his Saphire Throne. |
| a 1593 Marlowe Hero & L. 11, The *sapphire-visag'd god. |
b. quasi-adj. Resembling the sapphire, sapphire-coloured.
| 1433 Lydg. St. Edmund App. 173 A saphir skye ladde Israel be day-light Toward the lond of promyssyoun. 1508 Dunbar Gold. Targe 37 The cristall air, the sapher firmament. a 1600 Montgomerie Misc. P. xxxv. 55 Hir saphir veins, lyk threids of silk. 1630 Drummond of Hawthornden Flowers of Sion 10 The Sunne..faintly iourneyes vp Heauens saphire Path. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 237 How from that Saphire Fount the crisped Brooks..Ran Nectar. 1726 Pope Odyss. xx. 128 Loud from a saphire sky his thunder sounds. 1819 Keats Eve St. Agnes xxxvi, Like a throbbing star Seen mid the sapphire heaven's deep repose. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. viii. iii, Beyond that sapphire promontory, which men name St. Bees, which is not sapphire either, but dull sandstone, when one gets close to it. 1862 Calverley Verses & Tr. (1894) 60 In the sapphire West the eve yet lingered. |
c. used in denominating some animals (see
quots.).
sapphire mink, a variety of mink with blue fur (see also sense 2 b); also, the fur of this animal.
| 1664 R. Hubert Catal. Rarities (1665) 40 A Saphir flie so called for his bright shining blew colour. 1729 Dampier's Voy. III. 425 The Saphire-beetle has green Wings, with a Gold Gloss. 1782 Latham Gen. Synopsis Birds II. 775 Sapphire Humming Bird. 1861 Gould Trochilidæ III. Pl. 178 Pterophanes Temmincki. Temminck's Sapphire⁓wing. 1960 Guardian 26 Aug. 6/4 A generously wide sapphire mink stole. 1974 Genetika XII. ii. 109 The interactions between genes are demonstrated to result in a significant rearrangement of cells and the development of a new pigmentation type in sapphire minks. 1976 S. Wales Echo 25 Nov. 22/7 (Advt.), Full-length Sapphire Mink, {pstlg}850. |