alabaster
UK/ˈæl.əˌbɑːs.tə//ˈæl.əˌbæs.tɚ/
alabaster noun: a fine-grained white or lightly-tinted variety of gypsum, used ornamentally.
Noun
alabaster (usually uncountable, plural alabasters)
- A fine-grained white or lightly-tinted variety of gypsum, used ornamentally.
- Why ſhould a man whoſe bloud is warme within,
Sit like his Grandſire, cut in Alabaſter?c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]... - Nor was the flame dissevered from its ribbon
But like a radiant fillet ran along
So that fire seemed it behind alabaster.1867, Dante Alghieri, “Paradiso”, in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, transl., The Divine Comedy, Canto XV, lines 22–23
- Why ſhould a man whoſe bloud is warme within,
- A variety of calcite, translucent and sometimes banded.
- A sculpture executed in alabaster.
- Beautiful oviform vases and covers, jars and covers with flowers and foliage, Italian alabasters, copies of the antique, were ranged side by side with Chinese ginger jars and common preserve bottles of birds'eggs[…]1883, W. H. Florio Hutchisson, Pen and Pencil Sketches: Being Reminiscences During Eighteen Years' Residence in Bengal, page 247
- His alabasters are certainly very estimable; but those to whom we owe them were not skilled virtuosi, and if they acquitted themselves of their task honourably, they only produced ordinary work.2021 March 27, G. Maspero, Egyptian Art, Otbebookpublishing, →ISBN
- An off-white color, like that of alabaster.
Adjective
alabaster (not comparable)
- Made of alabaster.
- The crown is stored in an alabaster box with an onyx handle and a gold lock.
- And being in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 14:3
- Resembling alabaster; white, pale, smooth, translucent.
- An ominous alabaster fog settled in the valley.
- With more than admiration he admir’d
Her azure veins, her alabaster skin,
Her coral lips, her snow-white dimpled chin.1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC, lines 418-420
- Synonyms:
- alabastrine
Proper noun capitalized: Alabaster
Alabaster
- A city in Shelby County, Alabama, United States.
alabaster meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Kannada and Tagalog
alabaster in Hindi
- variety of gypsum
- सेलखड़ी selkhaṛī
alabaster in Tamil
- வெண்பளிங்கு, வெண்சலவைக்கல், நிலாக்காந்தக்கல், வெண்சலவைக்கல்லாலான, வெண்சலவைக்கல் போன்ற, வெண்ணிறமான
alabaster in Kannada
- ಹಾಲುಗಲ್ಲು
alabaster in Tagalog
- variety of gypsum
- alabastro
More languagesFewer languages
- alabaster in Arabic
- مرمر
- alabaster in Indonesian
- albas
Examples of alabaster in a sentence
- One of the striking relics found at the tomb, was a Canopic portrait head of Queen Tii, made entirely of alabaster except the eyes and eyebrows, which were inlaid lapis lazuli and osidian.1915 May 15, “Egyptian Antiquities for Metropolitan”, in The New York Times (PDF), archived from the original on 14 Sep 2015:
- An enameled miniature of Christ is set in the center of a jeweled alabaster paten, the plate that holds the bread during Communion services.1980, Colin Thubron, Seafarers: The Venetians, page 41:
Synonyms of alabaster
Forms of alabaster
| plural | alabasters |
|---|---|
| alternative form | alabastre |
| alternative form | alablaster |
Origin of alabaster
From Middle English alabastre, from Old French alabastre, from Latin alabaster (“box for perfumes or unguents”), from Ancient Greek ἀλάβαστρος (alábastros), from earlier ἀλάβαστος (alábastos, “vase without handles for storing perfumes”). This may further derive from Egyptian ꜥj-r-bꜣstjt (“vessel of the Egyptian goddess Bast”). The Latin suffix -aster is unrelated, but may have influenced the spelling of the borrowing from Ancient Greek (whence a direct loan could have been rendered as *alabastrus).
Words formed from alabaster
Words that rhyme with alabaster
Questions about alabaster
- What does alabaster mean?
- Alabaster means a fine-grained white or lightly-tinted variety of gypsum, used ornamentally.
- What is alabaster in Hindi?
- Alabaster in Hindi is सेलखड़ी (selkhaṛī). See Alabaster meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use alabaster in a sentence?
- One of the striking relics found at the tomb, was a Canopic portrait head of Queen Tii, made entirely of alabaster except the eyes and eyebrows, which were inlaid lapis lazuli and osidian.
- What part of speech is alabaster?
- Alabaster can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce alabaster?
- Alabaster is pronounced /ˈæl.əˌbɑːs.tə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of alabaster?
- The plural of alabaster is alabasters.
Words near alabaster in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: alabaster (page history and authors); Alabaster (page history and authors); alabaster (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); alabaster (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-alabaster.ogg, en-au-alabaster.ogg.
Cite this entry: “alabaster.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/alabaster. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.