Granite
Granite (gran"it) , noun
[Italian granito granite, adj., grainy, past participle of granire to make grainy, from Latin granum grain; compare French granit. See Grain.]
(Geology) A crystalline, granular rock, consisting of quartz, feldspar, and mica, and usually of a whitish, grayish, or flesh-red color. It differs from gneiss in not having the mica in planes, and therefore in being destitute of a schistose structure.
Varieties containing hornblende are common. See also the Note under Mica.
Collocations (5)
Gneissoid granite , granite in which the mica has traces of a regular arrangement.
Graphic granite , granite consisting of quartz and feldspar without mica, and having the quartz crystals so arranged in the transverse section like oriental characters.
Porphyritic granite , granite containing feldspar in distinct crystals.
Syenitic granite , granite containing hornblende as well as mica, or, according to some authorities hornblende replacing the mica.
Granite ware , (a) A kind of stoneware. (b) A Kind of ironware, coated with an enamel resembling granite.