lapidary
/ˈlæpəˌdɛɹi/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.04 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
4
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A person who cuts and polishes, engraves, or deals in gems and precious stones.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
An expert in gems and precious stones; a connoisseur of lapidary work.
Countable; Obsolete; Uncountable
adj
Of or pertaining to gems and precious stones, or the art of cutting or otherwise working them.
adj
Of or pertaining to monumental stones, and particularly to the art of inscribing them.
Example Sentences
- "An excellent lapidary ſet theſe ſtones ſure, / Doe you mark their vvaters?"
- "[T]he method of eſtimating diamonds is altogether arbitrary; and Ratchkali, vvho vvas an exquiſite lapidary, had ſet it in ſuch a manner as vvould have impoſed upon any ordinary jevveller."
- "In the very early days of gemstone fashioning, a polisher or lapidary would cut and polish both diamonds and other gemstones. […] Diamonds are now almost exclusively polished by diamond cutting specialists, and all the other gemstones are cut and polished by lapidaries."
- "Yet as naked as at the firſt bluſh it [the work] ſeemeth, if it ſhall ſtande wyth your Honour his pleaſure (whome I take to be an experte Lapidarie) at vacant houres to inſearche it, you ſhall finde therein ſtones of ſuch eſtimatiõ, as are woorthy to be coucht in riche and precious collets."
- "The vvriter of an epitaph ſhould not be conſidered as ſaying nothing but vvhat is ſtrictly true. Allovvance muſt be made for ſome degree of exaggerated praiſe. In lapidary inſcriptions a man is not upon oath."
- "He's dead—and upper earth with him has done: / He's buried; save the undertaker's bill, / Or lapidary scrawl, the world is gone / For him, […]"
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English lapidari, lapidarie (“person who cuts, polishes, or engraves precious stones; expert in precious stones; treatise on precious stones”) [and other forms], from Old French lapidaire (“gemsmith, lapidary”) (modern French lapidaire), or from its etymon Latin lapidārius (“(adjective) of stones, stony; (noun) stonecutter”), from lapidis (the genitive singular of lapis (“stone; (poetic) jewel, precious stone”), possibly from Pre-Greek or Proto-Indo-European *lep- (“to peel”)) + -ārius (suffix forming adjectives). Noun senses 3.2 (“jewellery”) and 3.3 (“treatise on precious stones”) are derived from Latin lapidāria or lapidārium, a noun use of the neuter plural or genitive plural respectively of lapidāris (“of stone”, adjective), from lapidis (the genitive singular of lapis; see above) + -āris (suffix forming adjectives). The stone-referent adjective is either: * a learned borrowing from Latin lapidārius (adjective); or * derived from the noun. Adjective sense 6 (“succint”) is by metaphor: the speaker or writer has cut and polished their locution, as it were.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈlæpəˌdɛɹi/
- British English: /ˈlæpɪdəɹi/