Wiktionary

alabaster

See also: Alabaster

English

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WOTD – 10 September 2009
 
A lamp whose shade has been crafted from alabaster.

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English alabastre, from Old French alabastre, from Latin alabaster (“box for perfume made of alabaster”), from Ancient Greek ἀλάβαστρος (alábastros), from earlier ἀλάβαστος (alábastos, “vase made of alabaster”). This may further derive from Egyptian ꜥj-r-bꜣstjt (“vessel of the Egyptian goddess Bast”). The Latin suffix -aster is unrelated, but may have influenced the spelling of the borrowing from Ancient Greek (whence a direct loan could have been rendered as *alabastrus).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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alabaster (usually uncountable, plural alabasters)

  1. A fine-grained white or lightly-tinted variety of gypsum, used ornamentally.
    • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 163, lines 89–90:
      Why ſhould a man whoſe bloud is warme within,
      Sit like his Grandſire, cut in Alabaſter?
    • 1867, Dante Alghieri, “Paradiso”, in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, transl., The Divine Comedy‎[1], Canto XV, lines 22–23:
      Nor was the flame dissevered from its ribbon
      But like a radiant fillet ran along
      So that fire seemed it behind alabaster.
    • 1915 May 15, “Egyptian Antiquities for Metropolitan”, in The New York Times‎[2] (PDF), archived from the original on 2015-09-14:
      One of the striking relics found at the tomb, was a Canopic portrait head of Queen Tii, made entirely of alabaster except the eyes and eyebrows, which were inlaid lapis lazuli and osidian.
  2. (historical) A variety of calcite, translucent and sometimes banded.
  3. An off-white colour, like that of alabaster.
    alabaster:  

Derived terms

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Translations

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Adjective

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alabaster (not comparable)

  1. Made of alabaster.
    The crown is stored in an alabaster box with an onyx handle and a gold lock.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 14:3:
      And being in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.
    • 1980, Colin Thubron, Seafarers: The Venetians, page 41:
      An enameled miniature of Christ is set in the center of a jeweled alabaster paten, the plate that holds the bread during Communion services.
  2. Resembling alabaster: white, pale, translucent.
    An ominous alabaster fog settled in the valley.

Translations

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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Latin

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀλάβαστρος (alábastros), from earlier ἀλάβαστος (alábastos, “vase made of alabaster”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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alabaster m (genitive alabastrī); second declension

  1. a box, tapering to a point at the top, for perfumes or unguents

Declension

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Second-declension noun (nominative singular in -er).

Case Singular Plural
Nominative alabaster alabastrī
Genitive alabastrī alabastrōrum
Dative alabastrō alabastrīs
Accusative alabastrum alabastrōs
Ablative alabastrō alabastrīs
Vocative alabaster alabastrī

Descendants

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References

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  • “alabaster”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • alabaster in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • “alabaster”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎[3]

Middle English

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Noun

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alabaster

  1. Alternative form of alabastre

Polish

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Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Inherited from Old Polish alabastyr.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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alabaster m inan

  1. (mineralogy) alabaster (fine-grained white or lightly-tinted variety of gypsum)
    kopalnia alabastru ― an alabaster mine
    (zrobiony, wykonany) z alabastru ― (made) of/from/out of alabaster
  2. alabaster object

Declension

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Declension of alabaster
singular plural
nominative alabaster alabastry
genitive alabastru alabastrów
dative alabastrowi alabastrom
accusative alabaster alabastry
instrumental alabastrem alabastrami
locative alabastrze alabastrach
vocative alabastrze alabastry

Derived terms

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adjective
adverb
nouns
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noun

Further reading

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Serbo-Croatian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin alabaster.

Noun

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alabaster m (Cyrillic spelling алабастер)

  1. alabaster
    Synonyms: alabastar, ubjel

Silesian

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Etymology

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Inherited from Old Polish alabastyr.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /alaˈbastɛr/
  • Rhymes: -astɛr
  • Syllabification: a‧la‧bas‧ter

Noun

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alabaster m inan

  1. (mineralogy) alabaster (fine-grained white or lightly-tinted variety of gypsum)
  2. sawdust mixed with glue, used to seal holes in wood

Further reading

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Swedish

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Noun

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alabaster c

  1. alabaster

Declension

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Declension of alabaster 
Uncountable
Indefinite Definite
Nominative alabaster alabastern — —
Genitive alabasters alabasterns — —

References

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