agate
Meanings
Plural: agates
Noun
- an impure form of quartz consisting of banded chalcedony; used as a gemstone and for making mortars and pestles
- 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.
- The size of type between pearl and nonpareil, standardized as 5+¹⁄₂-point.
- One fourteenth of an inch.
- A diminutive person; so called in allusion to the small figures cut in agate for rings and seals.
- A tool used by gold-wire drawers, bookbinders, etc.;—so called from the agate fixed in it for burnishing.
- A marble made from agate.
- A testicle.
Adv
- On the way; agoing.
Origin / Etymology
From Middle French agathe, from Latin achatēs, from Ancient Greek ἀχάτης (akhátēs, “agate”).
Scrabble Score: 6
agate is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordagate is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
agate is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary
Words With Friends Score: 7
agate is a valid Words With Friends word