GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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Found 2 definitions

1.       
   Granite , n. [It. granito granite, adj., grainy, p. p. of granire to make grainy, fr. L. granum grain; cf. F. granit. See Grain.] (Geol.) A crystalline, granular rock, consisting of quartz, feldspar, and mica, and usually of a whitish, grayish, or flesh-red color. It differs from gneiss in not having the mica in planes, and therefore in being destitute of a schistose structure.
   1913 Webster
   ☞ Varieties containing hornblende are common. See also the Note under Mica.
   1913 Webster
   Gneissoid granite, granite in which the mica has traces of a regular arrangement. -- Graphic granite, granite consisting of quartz and feldspar without mica, and having the quartz crystals so arranged in the transverse section like oriental characters. -- Porphyritic granite, granite containing feldspar in distinct crystals. -- Hornblende granite, or Syenitic granite, granite containing hornblende as well as mica, or, according to some authorities hornblende replacing the mica. -- Granite ware. (a) A kind of stoneware. (b) A Kind of ironware, coated with an enamel resembling granite.
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2.       
   Syenite , n. [L. Syenites (sc. lapis), from Syene, Gr. .] (Min.) (a) Orig., a rock composed of quartz, hornblende, and feldspar, anciently quarried at Syene, in Upper Egypt, and now called granite. (b) A granular, crystalline, ingeous rock composed of orthoclase and hornblende, the latter often replaced or accompanied by pyroxene or mica. Syenite sometimes contains nephelite (elaeolite) or leucite, and is then called nephelite (elaeolite) syenite or leucite syenite.
   1913 Webster