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alabaster en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈæl.əˌbæs.tə/ (UK)
• (US) audio
• /ˈæl.əˌbɑːs.tə/ (UK)
• (Australia) audio
• /ˈæl.əˌbæs.tɚ/ (US)

Etymology

From Middle English alabastre, from Old French alabastre, from Latin alabaster (“box for perfumes or unguents”), from Ancient Greek ἀλάβαστρος (alábastros), from earlier ἀλάβαστος (alábastos, “vase without handles for storing perfumes”). This may further derive from Egyptian ꜥj-r-bꜣstjt (“vessel of the Egyptian goddess Bast”). The Latin suffix -aster is unrelated, but may have influenced the spelling of the borrowing from Ancient Greek (whence a direct loan could have been rendered as *alabastrus).

Meanings

1. (not-comparable) Made of alabaster.
   • And being in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 14:3:
   • An enameled miniature of Christ is set in the center of a jeweled alabaster paten, the plate that holds the bread during Communion services. 1980, Colin Thubron, Seafarers: The Venetians, page 41:
   • The crown is stored in an alabaster box with an onyx handle and a gold lock.
2. (not-comparable) Resembling alabaster; white, pale, smooth, translucent.
   • With more than admiration he admir’d Her azure veins, her alabaster skin, Her coral lips, her snow-white dimpled chin. 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC, lines 418-420:
   • An ominous alabaster fog settled in the valley.
   • Thine alabaster cities gleam Undimmed by human tears! 1895, “America the Beautiful”, Katharine Lee Bates (lyrics), Samuel A. Ward (music):
   • Safe in their alabaster chambers Untouched by morning, untouched by noon Sleep the meek members of the resurrection, Rafters of satin, and roof of stone. a. 1887 (date written), Emily Dickinson, “[Book IV.—Time and Eternity] Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers”, in Mabel Loomis Todd and T[homas] W[entworth] Higginson, editors, Poems, First Series, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, published 1890, →OCLC, page 113:

Forms

Spelling	Features	Labels	Source
alablaster		alternative	lexicographic
alabastre		alternative	lexicographic

Synonyms

alabastrine

Translations (12)

ca alabastrí (made of alabaster) · eo alabastra (made of alabaster) · fi alabasterinen (made of alabaster) · pl alabastrowy (made of alabaster) · fi alabasterinen (resembling alabaster) · fi alabasteri- (made of alabaster) · hu alabástrom (made of alabaster) · ru алеба́стровый (made of alabaster) · de alabastern (made of alabaster) · hy ալեբաստրե (made of alabaster) · nl albasten (made of alabaster) · el αλαβάστρινος (made of alabaster)

alabaster en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈæl.əˌbæs.tə/ (UK)
• (US) audio
• /ˈæl.əˌbɑːs.tə/ (UK)
• (Australia) audio
• /ˈæl.əˌbæs.tɚ/ (US)

Etymology

From Middle English alabastre, from Old French alabastre, from Latin alabaster (“box for perfumes or unguents”), from Ancient Greek ἀλάβαστρος (alábastros), from earlier ἀλάβαστος (alábastos, “vase without handles for storing perfumes”). This may further derive from Egyptian ꜥj-r-bꜣstjt (“vessel of the Egyptian goddess Bast”). The Latin suffix -aster is unrelated, but may have influenced the spelling of the borrowing from Ancient Greek (whence a direct loan could have been rendered as *alabastrus).

Meanings

1. (uncountable, usually) A fine-grained white or lightly-tinted variety of gypsum, used ornamentally.
   • Why ſhould a man whoſe bloud is warme within, Sit like his Grandſire, cut in Alabaſter? c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 163, lines 89–90:
   • Nor was the flame dissevered from its ribbon But like a radiant fillet ran along So that fire seemed it behind alabaster. 1867, Dante Alghieri, “Paradiso”, in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, transl., The Divine Comedy, Canto XV, lines 22–23:
   • One of the striking relics found at the tomb, was a Canopic portrait head of Queen Tii, made entirely of alabaster except the eyes and eyebrows, which were inlaid lapis lazuli and osidian. 1915 May 15, “Egyptian Antiquities for Metropolitan”, in The New York Times (PDF), archived from the original on 14 Sep 2015:
2. (historical, uncountable, usually) A variety of calcite, translucent and sometimes banded.
3. (uncountable, usually) A sculpture executed in alabaster.
   • His alabasters are certainly very estimable; but those to whom we owe them were not skilled virtuosi, and if they acquitted themselves of their task honourably, they only produced ordinary work. 2021 March 27, G. Maspero, Egyptian Art, Otbebookpublishing, →ISBN:
   • Beautiful oviform vases and covers, jars and covers with flowers and foliage, Italian alabasters, copies of the antique, were ranged side by side with Chinese ginger jars and common preserve bottles of birds'eggs[…] 1883, W. H. Florio Hutchisson, Pen and Pencil Sketches: Being Reminiscences During Eighteen Years' Residence in Bengal, page 247:
4. (uncountable, usually) An off-white color, like that of alabaster.

Forms

Spelling	Features	Labels	Source
alablaster		alternative	lexicographic
alabasters	Number=Plur		lexicographic
alabastre		alternative	lexicographic

Deriveds

Nottingham alabaster · alabasterlike

Translations (44)

pl alabaster (variety of gypsum) · tl alabastro (variety of gypsum) · fi alabasteriveistos (sculpture executed in alabaster) · xal җуңшу (variety of gypsum) · sv alabaster (variety of gypsum) · kk алебастр (variety of gypsum) · ro alabastru (variety of gypsum) · grc ἀλάβαστρον (variety of gypsum) · sh alabaster (variety of gypsum) · fi alabasteri (variety of calcite) · enm alabastre (variety of gypsum) · hy ալեբաստր (variety of gypsum) · pt alabastro (variety of gypsum) · egy S-s-V6:W3 (variety of gypsum) · nb alabast (variety of gypsum) · ota صو مرمری (variety of gypsum) · ko 설화석고 (variety of gypsum) · hi सेलखड़ी (variety of gypsum) · de Alabaster (variety of gypsum) · ja 雪花石膏 (variety of gypsum) · he בהט (variety of gypsum) · es alabastro (variety of gypsum) · eo alabastro (variety of gypsum) · fi alabasteri (variety of gypsum) · el αλάβαστρο (variety of gypsum) · ota قایماق طاشی (variety of gypsum) · tr kaymak taşı (variety of gypsum) · tr su mermeri (variety of gypsum) · ca alabastre (variety of gypsum) · nl albast (variety of gypsum) · ga albastar (variety of gypsum) · it alabastro (variety of gypsum) · bg алабастър (variety of gypsum) · fi alabasterinvalkoinen (off-white color) · fr albâtre (variety of gypsum) · ru алеба́стр (variety of gypsum) · id albas (variety of gypsum) · da alabast (variety of gypsum) · tr albatr (variety of gypsum) · yo alabásítà (variety of gypsum) · hu alabástrom (variety of gypsum) · ar مرمر (variety of gypsum) · nn alabast (variety of gypsum) · la alabaster (variety of gypsum)