granite
(ˈgrænɪt)
Also 8 granate, granet.
[ad. It. granito (orig. a ppl. adj. = ‘grained’), f. grano grain n. The It. word has been adopted in most of the European langs.: F. granit (cited in Hatz.-Darm. from 1690), Sp., Pg. granito, Ger., Sw., Da. granit, Du. graniet.
The 18th c. form granate is due to etymologizing identification of the word with granate a. Cf. granated marble, s.v. granate v.]
1. a. A granular crystalline rock consisting essentially of quartz, orthoclase-feldspar, and mica, much used in building.
It varies in colour, light grey being the predominating tint. Other varieties are white and light red or pink.
| [1613–39 I. Jones in Leoni Palladio's Archit. (1742) II. 49 A. Pannels of Porphyry. B. Ditto of Granito.] 1646 Evelyn Mem. (1857) I. 232 Columns of great height, of Egyptian granite. 1670 R. Lassels Voy. Italy II. 236 Pillars..all of a granite, or speckled marble. 1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Abbe Conti 31 July, Vast pieces of granite..are daily lessened by the prodigious balls that the Turks make from them for their Cannon. 1759 Johnson Rasselas xxxvii, Palaces and temples will be demolished to make stables of granate. 1762 Phil. Trans. LII. 510 The school-house all of square granet. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles iii. xv, Huge terraces of granite black. 1851 Layard Pop. Acc. Discov. Nineveh xiii. 341 A country..rich in stone and costly granites. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. vii. 50 The Aiguille..piercing with its spikes of granite the clear air. 1868 B. J. Lossing Hudson 364 The mansion is built of blue granite. 1887 Ruskin Præterita II. 233 The tremendous granites of the Grimsel. |
b. fig. Applied to ‘stony’, hard-headed, or hard-hearted persons. Often
attrib. and
Comb. (
cf. granite-like in 3 b).
| 1839 J. R. Lowell Ye Yankees 3 in Uncoll. Poems (1950), Stern granite hearted ones! 1902 Daily Chron. 12 Nov. 5/6 That granite-headed ship-owner, Sir Alfred L. Jones. 1908 Ibid. 7 Nov. 4/4 His countenance expressed neither the sweetness and tenderness of the saint nor the granite severity of the prophet. 1916 Punch 14 June 398/2, I stole a look at Hercules over my shoulder, but he was granite. 1920 C. Jerdan Scott. Clerical Stories viii. 164 Strong-boned, granite-headed, and endowed with all kinds of vitality. |
2. U.S. ‘A kind of rough-grained water-ice or sherbet. Also called
rock-punch and
rock ice-cream’ (
Cent. Dict.).
| 1887 N.Y. Tribune 7 Apr. (Cent.), Granites..must be frozen without beating, or even much stirring, as the design is to have a rough, icy-substance. 1892 Star 14 May 4/3 Delicious ‘granites’ in custard glasses. |
3. attrib. and
Comb. a. simple attrib. or quasi-adj. Consisting of or made of granite.
the granite capital or
granite city, Aberdeen.
the granite State, New Hampshire,
U.S.| 1703 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 126 Granite Pillars. 1813 Scott Trierm. iii. x, A pile of granite fragments. 1842 J. F. Cooper Jack o' Lantern I. iv. 112, I come from New Hampshire, or what we call the Granite state. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. 343 Granite mountains are known at a distance by their rounded tops. 1862 Burton Bk. Hunter (1863) 307 Aberdeen, the granite capital of the far north. 1892 Pall Mall G. 21 Sept. 6/1 A well-known surgeon..in the granite city. 1898 Daily News 10 May 8/2 A..thoroughfare..paved with granite setts. |
b. objective and instrumental, as
granite-dispersion;
granite-dispersing,
granite-like,
granite-sprinkled adjs.| 1879 Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc. XXXV. 431 The *granite dispersing capacity of Kirkcudbrightshire must have been very great. |
| Ibid., The great Kirkcudbrightshire *Granite-dispersion. |
| 1839 Bailey Festus viii. (ed. 1848) 90 The first and *granite-like effect Of things. 1849 Cobden Speeches 20 The granite-like hardihood and consistency of the man. |
| 1867 R. S. Hawker Prose Wks. (1893) 147 A boundless reach of *granite-sprinkled moor. |
c. Special comb.:
granite-porphyry = granophyre;
granite-quartzy a., intermediate between granite and quartz;
granite ware, (
a) pottery with a speckled colouring imitating that of granite; (
b) the name given to a kind of enamelled ironware.
| 1885 Geikie Text-bk. Geol. ii. ii. vii. (ed. 2) 140 Granophyre (*Granite-porphyry)—a rock composed of a compact, but thoroughly crystalline (microgranitic) base, through which are porphyritically dispersed crystals of felspar, mica, and quartz (often doubly terminated). |
| 1882 Capello & Ivens Benguella to Yacca II. 232 We find..the ground to be composed of *granite-quartzy rock. |
| 1895 Tradesman's List, Pie Dishes—Best White *Granite Ware. |