Lapidary

Quick meaning: Lapidary is a noun meaning A person who cuts and polishes, engraves, or deals in gems and precious stones.

Meaning

A person who cuts and polishes, engraves, or deals in gems and precious stones.

More Meanings

1. The field in which such a person works, a subfield of gemology.
2. An expert in gems and precious stones; a connoisseur of lapidary work.
3. Gems and precious stones collectively; jewellery.
4. A treatise on (precious) stones.
5. Of or pertaining to gems and precious stones, or the art of working them.
6. Senses relating to inscriptions.
7. (archaic, rare) Of or pertaining to stones in general.

Example Sentences

An excellent lapidary ſet theſe ſtones ſure, / Doe you mark their vvaters?

[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.

In the very early days of gemstone fashioning, a polisher or lapidary would cut and polish both diamonds and other gemstones. […] Diamonds are now almost exclusively polished by diamond cutting specialists, and all the other gemstones are cut and polished by lapidaries.

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.

Word Forms

• lapidaries

Synonyms for lapidary

Depending on context, synonyms include gemsmith, lapidist, gemmologist, gemologist.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include lapidist, gemologist, stonecutter, lapidator, gem cutter, gemcutter.

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