1.
[syn: quartz glass, quartz, vitreous silica, lechatelierite, crystal]
2. a hard glossy mineral consisting of silicon dioxide in crystal form; present in most rocks (especially sandstone and granite); yellow sand is quartz with iron oxide impurities;
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Quartz \Quartz\, n. [G. quarz.] (Min.)
A form of silica, or silicon dioxide (SiO2), occurring in
hexagonal crystals, which are commonly colorless and
transparent, but sometimes also yellow, brown, purple, green,
and of other colors; also in cryptocrystalline massive forms
varying in color and degree of transparency, being sometimes
opaque.
[1913 Webster]
Note: The crystalline varieties include: amethyst, violet;
citrine and false topaz, pale yellow; rock crystal,
transparent and colorless or nearly so; rose quartz,
rosecolored; smoky quartz, smoky brown. The chief
crypto-crystalline varieties are: agate, a chalcedony
in layers or clouded with different colors, including
the onyx and sardonyx; carnelian and sard, red or
flesh-colored chalcedony; chalcedony, nearly white, and
waxy in luster; chrysoprase, an apple-green chalcedony;
flint, hornstone, basanite, or touchstone, brown to
black in color and compact in texture; heliotrope,
green dotted with red; jasper, opaque, red yellow, or
brown, colored by iron or ferruginous clay; prase,
translucent and dull leek-green. Quartz is an essential
constituent of granite, and abounds in rocks of all
ages. It forms the rocks quartzite (quartz rock) and
sandstone, and makes most of the sand of the seashore.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
quartz
n 1: colorless glass made of almost pure silica [syn: quartz
glass, quartz, vitreous silica, lechatelierite,
crystal]
2: a hard glossy mineral consisting of silicon dioxide in
crystal form; present in most rocks (especially sandstone and
granite); yellow sand is quartz with iron oxide impurities