| Adamant | n. [ OE. adamaunt, adamant, diamond, magnet, OF. adamant, L. adamas, adamantis, the hardest metal, fr. Gr. 'ada`mas, -antos; 'a priv. + dama^, n to tame, subdue. In OE., from confusion with L. adamare to love, be attached to, the word meant also magnet, as in OF. and LL. See Diamond, Tame. ] 1. A stone imagined by some to be of impenetrable hardness; a name given to the diamond and other substances of extreme hardness; but in modern mineralogy it has no technical signification. It is now a rhetorical or poetical name for the embodiment of impenetrable hardness. [ 1913 Webster ] Opposed the rocky orb
Of tenfold adamant, his ample shield. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. Lodestone; magnet. [ Obs. ] “A great adamant of acquaintance.” Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ] As true to thee as steel to adamant. Greene. [ 1913 Webster ] |
| Adamantine | a. [ L. adamantinus, Gr. &unr_;. ] 1. Made of adamant, or having the qualities of adamant; incapable of being broken, dissolved, or penetrated; as, adamantine bonds or chains. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. (Min.) Like the diamond in hardness or luster. [ 1913 Webster ] |
