ISINGLASS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does isinglass mean? 

• ISINGLASS (noun)
  The noun ISINGLASS has 1 sense:

1. any of various minerals consisting of hydrous silicates of aluminum or potassium etc. that crystallize in forms that allow perfect cleavage into very thin leaves; used as dielectrics because of their resistance to electricity

  Familiarity information: ISINGLASS used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ISINGLASS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of various minerals consisting of hydrous silicates of aluminum or potassium etc. that crystallize in forms that allow perfect cleavage into very thin leaves; used as dielectrics because of their resistance to electricity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

isinglass; mica

Hypernyms ("isinglass" is a kind of...):

mineral (solid homogeneous inorganic substances occurring in nature having a definite chemical composition)

translucent substance; transparent substance (a material having the property of admitting light diffusely; a partly transparent material)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "isinglass"):

biotite (dark brown to black mica found in igneous and metamorphic rock)

lepidolite (a mineral of the mica group; an important source of lithium)

muscovite (a colorless or pale brown mica with potassium)

paragonite (a colorless or pale brown mica with sodium)

phlogopite (a brown form of mica consisting of hydrous silicate of potassium and magnesium and aluminum)

zinnwaldite (a mica containing iron and lithium)

 Context examples 

The isinglass recipe for the shirt-fronts is in the strong-box at Drummond’s Bank.—Yours obediently, AMBROSE.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was he who invented buttons and loops at the ends of dress pantaloons, and who broke fresh ground by his investigation of the comparative merits of isinglass and of starch in the preparation of shirt-fronts.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)