Wiktionary

agate

See also: Agate

English

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Agate

Etymology 1

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From Middle French agathe, from Latin achatēs, from Ancient Greek ἀχάτης (akhátēs, “agate”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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agate (countable and uncountable, plural agates)

  1. (countable, uncountable, mineralogy) A semitransparent, uncrystallized silicate mineral and semiprecious stone, presenting various tints in the same specimen, with colors delicately arranged and often curved in parallel alternating dark and light stripes or bands, or blended in clouds; various authorities call it a variety of chalcedony, a variety of quartz, or a combination of the two.
    • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter I, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 9:
      The ends of the veil, drawn over her head, were embroidered with silver; she had long gold ear-rings; to a rich and large gold chain was suspended a cross set with precious stones; and over the arm of her chair hung a rosary of agate beads.
    • 1947, Malcolm Lowry, Under the Volcano, New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, page 86:
      Yes: living among the cohabations[sic] of Faust himself, among the litharge and agate and hyacinth and pearls.
  2. (uncountable, US printing, dated) The size of type between pearl and nonpareil, standardized as 5+1⁄2-point.
  3. (countable, typography) One fourteenth of an inch.
  4. (countable, obsolete) A diminutive person; so called in allusion to the small figures cut in agate for rings and seals.
  5. (countable) A tool used by gold-wire drawers, bookbinders, etc.;—so called from the agate fixed in it for burnishing.
  6. (countable) A marble made from agate.
  7. (slang, usually in the plural) A testicle.
Synonyms
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Hypernyms
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Hyponyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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From Late Middle English a gate. Equivalent to a- (“on”) +‎ gate (“way, path”).

Pronunciation

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Adverb

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agate (not comparable)

  1. (obsolete) On the way; agoing.

Basque

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Etymology

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From Proto-Basque *anate, from Latin anatem (“duck”).

Pronunciation

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  • (Biscayan) IPA(key): /aɡate/, [a.ɣ̞a.t̪e̞]

Noun

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agate inan

  1. (Biscayan) Alternative form of ahate.

Esperanto

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Adverb

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agate

  1. present adverbial passive participle of agi

French

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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agate f (plural agates)

  1. agate

Further reading

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Ido

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Verb

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agate

  1. adverbial present passive participle of agar

Italian

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Noun

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agate f

  1. plural of agata

Anagrams

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Mezquital Otomi

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Spanish ágata, from Old French agathe, from Latin achates, from Ancient Greek ἀχάτης (akhátēs).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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ǎgáte

  1. agate

References

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  • Hernández Cruz, Luis, Victoria Torquemada, Moisés (2010) Diccionario del hñähñu (otomí) del Valle del Mezquital, estado de Hidalgo (Serie de vocabularios y diccionarios indígenas “Mariano Silva y Aceves”; 45)‎[1] (in Spanish), second edition, Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, A.C., page 3

Scots

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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a- (“on”) +‎ gate

Adverb

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agate (not comparable)

  1. On the road, afoot, going about
  2. away

References

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