quartz

From German Quarz, from Middle High German (Central East German) quarz, twarc, from a West Slavic language [compare Polish twardy (“hard”), Czech tvrdý (“hard”), Russian твёрдый (tvjórdyj, “hard”)], from Old Church Slavonic тврьдъ (tvrĭdŭ, “firm”), from Proto-Slavic *tvьrdъ.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kwɔːts/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /kwɔɹts/, /kɔɹts/

• Audio (US)

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• Homophone: courts (some accents)

quartz (countable and uncountable, plural quartzes)

1. (mineralogy) The most abundant mineral on the earth's surface, of chemical composition silicon dioxide, SiO₂. It occurs in a variety of forms, both crystalline and amorphous. Found in every environment.
   • 1883, George Downing Liveing and James Dewar, “On the Ultra-Violet Spectra of the Elements”, in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, volume 174, Barrison and Sons, part I, page 188:

     The telescope and collimator have each an object-glass consisting of a single lens of quartz 1½ inch diameter and a focal length of 18½ inches for the sodium yellow light, but not more than 16 inches for the highest rays measured.

   • 1892 April 1, Armiger Barczinsky, “The Golden Snail”, in Sylvanus Urban (pseudonym of Edward Cave), editor, The Gentleman's Magazine, volume 272, page 331:

     Subsequently, the old Malay brought him the present specimen in a state of torpidity, telling him he had found him it in a cavity of the quartz reef.

   • 1948, Theodore Roethke, “The Shape of the Fire”, in The Lost Son and Other Poems:

     My meat eats me. Who waits at the gate? / Mother of quartz, your words writhe into my ear. / Renew the light, lewd whisper.

• Thesaurus:quartz

• Colorado topaz

• IPA^(key): /kwaʁts/

• Audio

  (file)

quartz m (plural quartz)

1. quartz

• cristal de roche

• “quartz” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).