Word.ws English Dictionary

specular stone

specular stone noun: a type of transparent stone (lapides speculares) that was used in classical times for glazing, adding sparkle to floor coverings, etc. Various modern authors have identified this stone as selenite, talc, or mica.

Noun

specular stone (countable and uncountable, plural specular stones)

  1. (historical) A type of transparent stone (lapides speculares) that was used in classical times for glazing, adding sparkle to floor coverings, etc. Various modern authors have identified this stone as selenite, talc, or mica.
    • Specular Stones were a shining kind of Substance, and (according to Basil ) transparent like the Air.1715, Guido Panciroli, Henricus Salmuth, The History of Many Memorable Things Lost, which Were in Use Among the Ancients
    • One use of mica or of selenite that especially merits notice is mentioned by Pliny, when, speaking of the material of which bee-hives should be formed, he says many had made them of the specular stone, that they might see the bees at work within.1859, Nathaniel Fish Moore, Ancient Mineralogy, page 166
  2. Any transparent or translucent stone.
    • They were furnished with wooden sashes in which were placed transparent or specular stones. These were of various kinds:1845, The United States Catholic Magazine and Monthly Review
    • The glass (ϋαλοϛ), in coffins of which Herodotus (iii., 24) says the Ethiopians called μακροϐίοι inclosed their dead, which was dug among them in great abundance and easily worked, was, of course, one or other of these specular stones.1859, Nathaniel Fish Moore, Ancient Mineralogy, page 166

Examples of specular stone in a sentence

  • It were but madnes now t'impart The skill of specular stone, When he which can have learn'd the art To cut it, can finde none.1956, John Donne, “The undertaking”, in The Songs and Sonets of John Donne:
  • Specular stones were minerals such as selenite (gypsum) or micas that could be cut into thin and transparent sheets, which Roman craftsmen used to seal windows with or in greenhouses.2014, Albert Russell Ascoli, Early Days of X-ray Crystallography, page 177:

Forms of specular stone

pluralspecular stones

Questions about specular stone

What does specular stone mean?
Specular stone means a type of transparent stone (lapides speculares) that was used in classical times for glazing, adding sparkle to floor coverings, etc. Various modern authors have identified this stone as selenite, talc, or mica.
How do you use specular stone in a sentence?
It were but madnes now t'impart The skill of specular stone, When he which can have learn'd the art To cut it, can finde none.
What part of speech is specular stone?
Specular stone is a noun.
What is the plural of specular stone?
The plural of specular stone is specular stones.

Words near specular stone in the dictionary

  1. speculable
  2. speculant
  3. speculants
  4. specular
  5. specular iron
  6. specular stone
  7. specular stones
  8. specularise
  9. specularised
  10. specularises
  11. specularising

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: specular stone (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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