lapidary
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈlæpɪdəɹi/
ipa: /ˈlæpɪdɹi/
ipa: /ˈlæpəˌdɛɹi/
Forms: form: lapidaries
Etymology: The noun is derived from Middle English lapidari, lapidarie (“person who cuts, polishes, or engraves precious stones; expert in precious stones; treatise on precious stones”) [and other forms], from Old French lapidaire (“gemsmith, lapidary”) (modern French lapidaire), or from its etymon Latin lapidārius (“(adjective) of stones, stony; (noun) stonecutter”), from lapidis (the genitive singular of lapis (“stone; (poetic) jewel, precious stone”), possibly from Pre-Greek or Proto-Indo-European *lep- (“to peel”)) + -ārius (suffix forming adjectives).
Sense 3.2 (“jewellery”) and sense 3.3 (“treatise on precious stones”) are derived from Latin lapidāria or lapidārium, a noun use of the neuter plural or genitive plural respectively of lapidāris (“of stone”, adjective), from lapidis (the genitive singular of lapis; see above) + -āris (suffix forming adjectives).
The adjective is either:
* a learned borrowing from Latin lapidārius (adjective); or
* derived from the noun.
Senses: examples: text: An excellent lapidary ſet theſe ſtones ſure, / Doe you mark their vvaters?
ref: 1624 (first performance), John Fletcher, Rule a Wife and Have a Wife. A Comoedy. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Leonard Lichfield […], published 1640, →OCLC, Act V, scene i, page 56:
text: [T]he method of eſtimating diamonds is altogether arbitrary; and Ratchkali, vvho vvas an exquiſite lapidary, had ſet it in ſuch a manner as vvould have impoſed upon any ordinary jevveller.
ref: 1753, [Tobias Smollett], “He Appears in the Great World with Universal Applause and Admiration”, in The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom. […], volume I, London: […] W. Johnston, […], →OCLC, page 234:
text: In the very early days of gemstone fashioning, a polisher or lapidary would cut and polish both diamonds and other gemstones. […] Diamonds are now almost exclusively polished by diamond cutting specialists, and all the other gemstones are cut and polished by lapidaries.
ref: 2005, P[eter] G. Read, “The Fashioning of Gemstones”, in Gemmology, 3rd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire; Burlington, Mass.: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, →ISBN, page 252:
synonyms: gemsmith
lapidarist
lapidist
glosses: A person who cuts and polishes, engraves, or deals in gems and precious stones.
glosses: The field in which such a person works, a subfield of gemology.
examples: text: Yet as naked as at the firſt bluſh it [the work] ſeemeth, if it ſhall ſtande wyth your Honour his pleaſure (whome I take to be an experte Lapidarie) at vacant houres to inſearche it, you ſhall finde therein ſtones of ſuch eſtimatiõ, as are woorthy to be coucht in riche and precious collets.
ref: 1577, Raphaell Holinshed; Richarde Stanyhurst [i.e., Richard Stanihurst], “The Historie of Irelande […]”, in The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Hunne, →OCLC, folio 1, verso, column 1:
synonyms: gemmologist
gemologist
lapidist
glosses: An expert in gems and precious stones; a connoisseur of lapidary work.
glosses: Gems and precious stones collectively; jewellery.
qualifier: except historical
glosses: A treatise on (precious) stones.
Hyponyms: sense: person who cuts, etc., gems
word: diamantaire
sense: person who cuts, etc., gems
word: gemcutter
Derived terms: lapidarist
lapidary's lathe
lapidary's mill
lapidary's wheel
Related terms: word: lapidarian
word: lapidarious
word: lapidist