opal

In Florio’s A World of Words 1598 as opale, from French opale, from Latin opalus, from Byzantine Greek ὀπάλλιος (opállios), from Sanskrit उपल (upala, “gem, stone”), from उपरि (upári, “the upper millstone”).[1].

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈəʊpəl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈoʊpəl/
• Rhymes: -əʊpəl

opal (plural opals)

1. (mineralogy) A mineral consisting, like quartz, of silica, but inferior to quartz in hardness and specific gravity, of the chemical formula SiO₂·nH₂O.
   • 2012 March 1, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 2, page 128:

     Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are […] . (Common gem materials not addressed in this article include amber, amethyst, chalcedony, garnet, lazurite, malachite, opals, peridot, rhodonite, spinel, tourmaline, turquoise and zircon.)

2. (biology, genetics, biochemistry) A colloquial name used in molecular biology referring to a particular stop codon sequence, "UGA."
3. Any of various lycaenid butterflies of the genus Nesolycaena.

• “Opal” in David Barthelmy, Webmineral Mineralogy Database, 1997–.
• “opal”, in Mindat.org‎, Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, accessed 29 August 2016.

• OLAP, POLA, Palo, alop

From English opal, from French opale, from Latin opalus, from Byzantine Greek ὀπάλλιος (opállios), from Sanskrit उपल (upala, “gem, stone”), from उपरि (upári, “the upper millstone”).

• Hyphenation: o‧pal

opal

1. (mineralogy) opal

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.pal/

• Audio

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opal m inan

1. (mineralogy) opal

• (adjective) opalowy

opal

1. second-person singular imperative of opalić

• opal in Polish dictionaries at PWN