Opal

See also: opal, opál, ópal, òpal, and opał

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Proper noun

Opal

1. A female given name from English from the precious stone, invented in the nineteenth century.
   • 1985, Alice Munro, The Progress of Love, Chatto&Windus, published 1987, →ISBN, page 208:

     Perhaps to console herself for the bad luck she had already suffered, in a back corner of South Sherbrooke Township - or perhaps to make up, ahead of time, for a lack of motherly feelings - she gave the girls the fanciest names she could think of: Opal Violet, Dawn Rose, and Bonnie Hope.

2. (Australia) A type of petrol made by British Petroleum designed to be unable to be used for petrol sniffing.[Developed 2005.]
   • 2006, Paul Malone, Taking the ‘Hospital Pass’ – Jane Halton, Department of Health and Ageing: Australian Department Heads Under Howard - Career Paths and Practice, page 131:

     Halton says, for example, that if there are bylaws that prohibit trafficking in fuel in a community where the non-sniffable petrol, Opal, had been introduced it would be the job of the local police to enforce the law. Her department, on the other hand, was dealing with the issue of the availability of Opal.

   • 2007, Terry Carter, Lara Dunston, Perth & Western Australia, Lonely Planet, page 163:

     Diesel is available at roughly 300km intervals on the WA side, as is Opal fuel which, at the Warburton and Warakuna roadhouses, can be used instead of unleaded petrol. (Opal is unsniffable, and its provision is one of the measures in place to counteract petrol-sniffing problems in local communities.)

3. A hamlet in Alberta, Canada
4. A census-designated place in Virginia
5. A town in Wyoming

Derived terms

• Opal Cone
• Opal Hills

Anagrams

• OLAP, POLA, Palo, alop, aplo-, pola

Cebuano

Etymology

From English Opal, from opal.

Proper noun

Opal

1. a female given name from English

German

Etymology

From Latin opalus, from Byzantine Greek ὀπάλλιος (opállios), from Sanskrit उपल (upala, “gem, stone”).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːl

Noun

Opal m (strong, genitive Opals, plural Opale)

1. opal

Declension

Declension of Opal [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Opal	die	Opale
genitive	eines	des	Opals	der	Opale
dative	einem	dem	Opal	den	Opalen
accusative	einen	den	Opal	die	Opale

Derived terms

• opalen
• opalisieren
• Holzopal

Further reading

• “Opal” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Opal” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Opal” in Duden online
• “Opal” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.