lapidary

lapidary

English

Etymology

From Old French lapidaire, from Latin lapidārius (“of stones”) (later used as a noun ‘stone-cutter’), from lapis (“stone”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlæpɪdəɹi/

Noun

lapidary (plural lapidaries)

1. A person who cuts, polishes, engraves, or deals in gems.
   • 2013, Peter G. Read,Gemmology, Elsevier, p.289

     In the very early days of gemstone fashioning, a polisher or lapidary would cut and polish both diamonds and other gemstones.

2. An expert in gems or precious stones; a connoisseur of lapidary work.
3. (archaic) A treatise on precious stones.

Derived terms

• lapidary's lathe
• lapidary's mill
• lapidary's wheel

Adjective

lapidary (not comparable)

1. Pertaining to gems and precious stones, or the art of working them.
2. Suitable for inscriptions; efficient, stately, concise; embodying the refinement and precision characteristic of stone-cutting.
   • 2000, Karen Armstrong, The Battle for God: Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Knopf/HarperCollins, p. 71

     The sole truth was that supplied by mathematics or by such lapidary propositions as “What's done cannot be undone,” which was irrefutably correct.