lapidary

English

Etymology

From Old French lapidaire, from Latin lapidārius (“of stones”) (later used as a noun ‘stone-cutter’), from lapis (“stone”).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈlæpɪdəɹi/

Noun

lapidary (plural lapidaries)

  1. A person who cuts, polishes, engraves, or deals in gems.
    • 2013, Peter G. Read,Gemmology, Elsevier, p.289
      In the very early days of gemstone fashioning, a polisher or lapidary would cut and polish both diamonds and other gemstones.
  2. An expert in gems or precious stones; a connoisseur of lapidary work.
  3. (archaic) A treatise on precious stones.

Derived terms
  • lapidary's lathe
  • lapidary's mill
  • lapidary's wheel

Adjective

lapidary (not comparable)

  1. Pertaining to gems and precious stones, or the art of working them.
  2. Suitable for inscriptions; efficient, stately, concise; embodying the refinement and precision characteristic of stone-cutting.
    • 2000, Karen Armstrong, The Battle for God: Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Knopf/HarperCollins, p. 71
      The sole truth was that supplied by mathematics or by such lapidary propositions as “What's done cannot be undone,” which was irrefutably correct.
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