Dictionary

opalesque en · ADJ

Etymology

From opal + -esque. Piecewise doublet of opalish.

Meanings

1. Similar to opal; having some of the qualities of opal.
   • From these causes result that imperfect transparency, and also that opalesque iridescence, which we now see in old glass, and which we long to see restored. 1890, J. Horsfall Turner, Yorkshire Genealogist:
   • Before them, a choir of angels fills the opalesque sky and shares the first couple's focus on God, a large seated figure just beginning to emerge from the background. 2009, Marilyn Masler, Marina Pacini, Carl Gutherz: Poetic Vision and Academic Ideals, page 57:
   • This process of extraction was repeated 4 times, each time renewing ether, until the mother fluid appeared slightly opalesque and transparent with a few small granules. 1923, The Kitasato Archives of Experimental Medicine - Volume 5, page 17:
   • She presently reached a more open part of the country, though she was still near the forest through which she had passed, and, towards noon, when she was almost overcome by the sun's heat, she came upon a rising ground, whence she beheld, afar off, a great stretch of water, and, on what seemed its most distant reach, an opalesque haze. 1896, Charles Smith Cheltnam, The Princess Who Despised All Men:

Forms

Synonyms

opalish · opaline