lapidary
Syllables: la·pid·a·ry/ˈlæpɪdəɹi/US/ˈlæpəˌdɛɹi/
lapidary noun: a person who cuts and polishes, engraves, or deals in gems and precious stones.
Noun
lapidary (countable and uncountable, plural lapidaries)
- A person who cuts and polishes, engraves, or deals in gems and precious stones.
- An excellent lapidary ſet theſe ſtones ſure, / Doe you mark their vvaters?1624 (first performance), John Fletcher, Rule a Wife and Have a Wife. A Comoedy. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Leonard Lichfield […], published 1640, →OCLC, Act V, scene i, page 56
- [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.1753, [Tobias Smollett], “He Appears in the Great World with Universal Applause and Admiration”, in The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom. […], volume I, London: […] W. Johnston, […], →OCLC, page...
- Synonyms:
- gemsmith, lapidarist, lapidist
- The field in which such a person works, a subfield of gemology.
- An expert in gems and precious stones; a connoisseur of lapidary work.
- 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.1577, Raphaell Holinshed; Richarde Stanyhurst [i.e., Richard Stanihurst], “The Historie of Irelande […]”, in The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I...
- Synonyms:
- gemmologist, gemologist, lapidist
- Gems and precious stones collectively; jewellery.
- A treatise on (precious) stones.
Adjective
lapidary (not comparable)
- Of or pertaining to gems and precious stones, or the art of cutting or otherwise working them.
- Of or pertaining to monumental stones, and particularly to the art of inscribing them.
- engraved on stone.
- 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.1791, James Boswell, quoting Samuel Johnson, “[1775]”, in James Boswell, editor, The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. […], volume I, London: […] Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, […], →OCLC, page 514
- 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, […]1822 October 15, Quevedo Redivivus [pseudonym; Lord Byron], “The Vision of Judgment”, in The Liberal. Verse and Prose from the South, 2nd edition, volume I, number I, London: […] John Hunt, […]...
- Pertaining to a way of speaking which is circumlocutional, is excessively precise, and is multifaceted in the construction of propositions.
- My chances, slender at best, rested with (the barrister Emmet Bourke), and I was sorry to find myself developing a thin, sharp dislike for the man. He had too great a fondness for lapidary formulation.1988, Thomas Flanagan, novel: The Tenants of Time chapter 11
- Of a piece of writing or a writing style: characteristic of or suitable for an inscription; embodying the precision and refinement of inscriptions on monuments; concise and stately.
- His grand principle is, that lapidary inscriptions, of what sort soever, should be Historical rather than Lyrical.1831, Thomas Carlyle, “Getting Under Way”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, 2nd book, page 91
- They were the encouragers of a numismatic and lapidary erudition, elegant in itself, and throwing for ever its little sparks of light on the still ocean of the past, but not very favourable to comprehensive observation, and tending to bestow on an unprofitable pedantry the honours of real learning.1837–1839, Henry Hallam, “History of Physical and Miscellaneous Literature from 1500 to 1600”, in Introduction to the Literature of Europe, in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries...
- Synonyms:
- brief, concise, crisp, laconic, short-winded, succinct, tight, to the point, taut, terse
- Antonyms:
- circumlocutory, diffuse, periphrastic, palaverous, pleonastic, prolix, rigmarole, sesquipedalian, verbose, wordy
- Of or pertaining to stones in general.
- Yet such is the temper of this world, that, if a grave philosopher, by shaking his fist, and other acts of bravado, should happen to provoke a company of mischievous boys to reply with a shower of stones, people in general suffer their resentment to settle upon the philosopher for his wanton...1831 June, Thomas De Quincey, “Whiggism in Its Relations to Literature”, in Sketches: Critical and Biographic (De Quincey’s Works; VI), London: James Hogg & Sons, →OCLC, page 164
- Succinct, laconic.
lapidary meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu
lapidary in Tamil
- கல்வெட்டி, இரத்தின வேலை, கல்வேலை, கல்வேலை சம்பந்தமான
lapidary in Urdu
- جوہری
lapidary in Bengali
- person who cuts and polishes, engraves, or deals in gems and precious stones
- জহুরি johuri
lapidary in Telugu
- person who cuts and polishes, engraves, or deals in gems and precious stones
- మణికారుడు maṇikāruḍu
More languagesFewer languages
- lapidary in Kannada
- ಬೆಲೆಕಲ್ಲು ಕುಟಿಗ
- lapidary in Myanmar
- ပန်းရွဲ pan:rwai:
Synonyms of lapidary
5 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of lapidary
| plural | lapidaries |
|---|
Origin of lapidary
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.
Words formed from lapidary
Questions about lapidary
- What does lapidary mean?
- Lapidary means a person who cuts and polishes, engraves, or deals in gems and precious stones.
- What is lapidary in Tamil?
- Lapidary in Tamil is கல்வெட்டி, இரத்தின வேலை, கல்வேலை. See Lapidary meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is lapidary?
- Lapidary can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce lapidary?
- Lapidary is pronounced /ˈlæpɪdəɹi/ (UK).
- What is the plural of lapidary?
- The plural of lapidary is lapidaries.
Words near lapidary in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lapidary (page history and authors); lapidary (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); lapidary (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); lapidary (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-lapidary.wav.
Cite this entry: “lapidary.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lapidary. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.