Word Study
zeolite
WORDNET DICTIONARY
Noun zeolite has 1 sense
- zeolite(n = noun.substance) - any of a family of glassy minerals analogous to feldspar containing hydrated aluminum silicates of calcium or sodium or potassium; formed in cavities in lava flows and in plutonic rocks; is a kind of mineral, water softener
has particulars: chabasite, chabazite, heulandite, natrolite, phillipsite
CIDE DICTIONARY
zeolite, n. [Gr. to boil + -lite: cf. F. zéolithe.].
A term now used to designate any one of a family of minerals, hydrous silicates of alumina, with lime, soda, potash, or rarely baryta. Here are included natrolite, stilbite, analcime, chabazite, thomsonite, heulandite, and others. These species occur of secondary origin in the cavities of amygdaloid, basalt, and lava, also, less frequently, in granite and gneiss. So called because many of these species intumesce before the blowpipe. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
zeolite, n. each of a number of minerals consisting mainly of hydrous silicates of calcium, sodium, and aluminium, able to act as cation exchangers.
Derivative
zeolitic adj.
Etymology
Sw. & G zeolit f. Gk zeo boil + -LITE (from their characteristic swelling and fusing under the blowpipe)
For further exploring for "zeolite" in Webster Dictionary Online
