auriferous en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- (General-American)
- (General-American)
- /ɔːˈɹɪfəɹəs/ (UK)
Etymology
From Latin aurifer (“gold-bearing”) + the English suffix -ous. The Latin term in turn derived from aurum (“gold”) + ferō (“to carry”).
Meanings
-
Containing or producing gold; gold-bearing.
In some places, however, quartz reefs, payably auriferous while in Silurian rock, have been followed down to subjacent granite, and have there been found to thin out and become unprofitable [...]
1887, R. A. Murray, Victoria. Geology and Physical Geography, page 126:Rocks rich in gems, and mountains big with mines, / That on the high equator ridgy riſe, / Whence many a burſting ſtream auriferous plays: [...]
a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Summer”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC, pages 70–71, lines 646–648:To these [compounds] belong native gold, alloys of gold and silver, and the argentiferous gold, or auriferous silver, obtained from the assayings of auriferous minerals and ores.
1854, Carl Friedrich Plattner, Sheridan Muspratt, The Use of the Blowpipe in the Qualitative and Quantitative Examination of Minerals, Ores, Furnace Products, and Other Metallic Combinations:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| more auriferous | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| most auriferous | Degree=Sup | lexicographic |
Deriveds
auriferously · nonauriferous · auriferousness · non-auriferous
Hypernyms
Relateds
Translations (13)
ca aurífer (containing gold) · es aurífero (containing gold) · gl aurífero (containing gold) · bg златоносен (containing gold) · ga órtháirgeach (containing gold) · fr aurifère (containing gold) · la aurifer (containing gold) · fi kultapitoinen (containing gold) · pl złotodajny (containing gold) · pl złotonośny (containing gold) · it aurifero (containing gold) · pt aurífero (containing gold) · de goldhaltig (containing gold)