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Webster 1913 Edition

Amethyst

Am′e-thyst

,
[F.
ametiste
,
amatiste
, F.
améthyste
, L.
amethystus
, fr. Gr. [GREEK] without drunkenness; as a noun, a remedy for drunkenness, the amethyst, supposed to have this power;
ἀ
priv. + [GREEK] to be drunken, [GREEK] strong drink, wine. See
Mead
.]
1.
(Min.)
A variety of crystallized quartz, of a purple or bluish violet color, of different shades. It is much used as a jeweler’s stone.
Oriental amethyst
,
the violet-blue variety of transparent crystallized corundum or sapphire.
2.
(Her.)
A purple color in a nobleman's escutcheon, or coat of arms.

Webster 1828 Edition

Amethyst

AM'ETHYST

,
Noun.
[L. amethystus; Gr. which the Greeks supposed to be formed from a neg. and to inebriate, from some supposed quality in the stone of resisting intoxication. Plin. 37.9, mentions an opinion that it takes its name from its color approaching that of wine, but not reaching it.]
A sub-species of quartz, of a violet blue color, of different degrees of intensity. It generally occurs crystallized in hexahedral prisms or pyramids; also in rolled fragments, composed of imperfect prismatic crystals. Its fracture is conchoidal or splintery. It is wrought into various articles of jewelry.

AM'ETHYST

, in heraldry, signifies a purple color. It is the same, in a nobelman's escutcheon, as purpure, in a gentleman's and mercury, in that of a prince.

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