RUBIEST

RUBY

Ru"by, n.; pl. Rubies. Etym: [F. rubis (cf. Pr. robi), LL. rubinus, robinus, fr. L. rubeus red, reddish, akin to ruber. See Rouge, red.]

1. (Min.)

Definition: A precious stone of a carmine red color, sometimes verging to violet, or intermediate between carmine and hyacinth red. It is a red crystallized variety of corundum.

Note: Besides the true or Oriental ruby above defined, there are the balas ruby, or ruby spinel, a red variety of spinel, and the rock ruby, a red variety of garnet. Of rubies, sapphires, and pearles white. Chaucer.

2. The color of a ruby; carmine red; a red tint. The natural ruby of your cheeks. Shak.

3. That which has the color of the ruby, as red wine. Hence, a red blain or carbuncle.

4. (Print.)

Definition: See Agate, n., 2. [Eng.]

5. (Zoöl.)

Definition: Any species of South American humming birds of the genus Clytolæma. The males have a ruby-colored throat or breast. Ruby of arsenic, Ruby of sulphur (Chem.), a glassy substance of a red color and a variable composition, but always consisting chiefly of the disulphide of arsenic; -- called also ruby sulphur.

– Ruby of zinc (Min.), zinc sulphide; the mineral zinc blende or sphalerite.

– Ruby silver (Min.), red silver. See under Red.

Ru"by, a.

Definition: Ruby-colored; red; as, ruby lips.

Ru"by, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rubied; p. pr. & vb. n. Rubying.]

Definition: To make red; to redden. [R.] Pope.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

29 March 2025

THOUGHTLESS

(adjective) without care or thought for others; “the thoughtless saying of a great princess on being informed that the people had no bread; ‘Let them eat cake’”


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Coffee Trivia

An article published in Harvard Men’s Health Watch in 2012 shows heavy coffee drinkers live longer. The researchers examined data from 400,000 people and found out that men who drank six or more coffee cups per day had a 10% lower death rate.

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