o·pal

(ō′pəl)

1. A mineral of hydrated silica.

2. A gemstone made of this mineral, noted for its rich iridescence.

[Early Modern English, from Middle French opale, from Latin opalus, alteration of Greek opallios, probably from Sanskrit upalaḥ, stone, precious stone (often in the sandhi form opalaḥ in the names of gems such as nīlopalaḥ, sapphire : nīla-, blue + upalaḥ), possibly variant of upara-, lower, from upa, towards, under, down; see upo in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

o′pal·ine′ (ō′pə-līn′, -lēn′) adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

opaline

(ˈəʊpəˌlaɪn)

adj

opalescent

an opaque or semiopaque whitish glass

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

o•pal•ine

(ˈoʊ pə lɪn, -ˌlin, -ˌlaɪn)

adj.

like opal; opalescent.

[1775–85]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.

opaline - having a play of lustrous rainbow colors; "an iridescent oil slick"; "nacreous (or pearlescent) clouds looking like mother-of-pearl"; "a milky opalescent (or opaline) luster"

opalescent, pearlescent, iridescent, nacreous

bright - emitting or reflecting light readily or in large amounts; "the sun was bright and hot"; "a bright sunlit room"

Translations

opaline

adj → opalen (liter)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

opaline

[ˈəʊpəˌlaɪn] n → opalina

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

The great cloud-barred disk of the sun stood just above a limitless expanse of tossing white-caps--so to speak--a billowy chaos of massy mountain domes and peaks draped in imperishable snow, and flooded with an opaline glory of changing and dissolving splendors, while through rifts in a black cloud-bank above the sun, radiating lances of diamond dust shot to the zenith.

View in context

Its nature is like opaline doves'-neck lustres, hovering and evanescent.

View in context

This glitter, this opaline lustre plays round the top of every toy to his eye to insure his fidelity, and he is deceived to his good.

View in context

The intriguing feature about this horizon is the epithermal vein system contains geyserite (opaline silica), lattice-type veining, and fluorite in the historical Rubicon trenches.

Selected Rock Grab Samples Assay up to 40.9 g/t Au and 138 g/t Ag at White Metal's Startrek Property, Newfoundland

The bulbous head of the opaline lamp above also makes it look a bit like something out of Super Mario's Mushroom Kingdom.

Ikea Symfonisk review: Sonos speaker-come-table-lamp is a space-saving marvel; Sonos speakers, but not as you know them - Ikea's Symfonisk range integrates high-quality sound into your home furnishings

Today's updated design features a brown polished ceramic bezel ring and a matt chromium nitride tachymeter scale, as well as brown PVD subdials and a central opaline silvery dial.

Omega honors winners of Stephen Hawking Medal Medal

It was made at the turn of the century and showed a green woodpecker perched on the branch of a tree, patiently waiting to catch supper in the limpid opaline blue waters of a lily pond.

Not simply a glass act; Emile Galle's work was so good it has been widely imitated - find out to tell the real from the fake

Galle cameo glass vase, the blue opaline ground with a multilayered carving, on one side a large kingfisher perched on a branch, on the other, water lilies, aquatic flowers and leaves.

Not simply a glass act Galle cameo glass vase with; Emile Galle's work was so good it has been widely imitated - find out to tell the real from the fake

credit, it's still managed to keep a lot of empty breathing space on the dial, which is available in blue and black with a sunray, opaline and grained finish.

JAEGER-LECOULTRE POLARIS CHRONOGRAPH WORLD TIMER

This ink is actually a mixture of secretions of two glands, the ink gland and the opaline gland, which are simultaneously released into the mantle cavity, mixed there, and then expelled through a siphon toward the site of predatory attack (Walters and Erickson, 1986).

Molecules and Mechanisms Underlying the Antimicrobial Activity of Escapin, an L-Amino Acid Oxidase from the Ink of Sea Hares

The dial is a silvery opaline with gold-applied Brequet numerals.

Patek Philippe: A watch that tells more than the time