SAPPHIRE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sapphire mean? 

• SAPPHIRE (noun)
  The noun SAPPHIRE has 3 senses:

1. a precious transparent stone of rich blue corundum valued as a gemstone

2. a transparent piece of sapphire that has been cut and polished and is valued as a precious gem

3. a light shade of blue

  Familiarity information: SAPPHIRE used as a noun is uncommon.

• SAPPHIRE (adjective)
  The adjective SAPPHIRE has 1 sense:

1. of something having the color of a blue sapphire

  Familiarity information: SAPPHIRE used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SAPPHIRE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A precious transparent stone of rich blue corundum valued as a gemstone

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

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

corundom; corundum (very hard mineral used as an abrasive)

transparent gem (a gemstone having the property of transmitting light without serious diffusion)

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

star sapphire (a sapphire that when cut shows a starlike figure in reflected light because of its crystalline structure)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A transparent piece of sapphire that has been cut and polished and is valued as a precious gem

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

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

gem; jewel; precious stone (a precious or semiprecious stone incorporated into a piece of jewelry)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A light shade of blue

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

azure; cerulean; lazuline; sapphire; sky-blue

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

blue; blueness (blue color or pigment; resembling the color of the clear sky in the daytime)

Derivation:

sapphire (of something having the color of a blue sapphire)

• SAPPHIRE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of something having the color of a blue sapphire

Context example:

sapphire eyes

Similar:

chromatic (being or having or characterized by hue)

Derivation:

sapphire (a light shade of blue)

 Context examples 

Clouds on the massive exoplanet HAT-P-7b could be made of rubies and sapphires, new research suggests.

(Exoplanet Could Have Clouds of Rubies, Sapphires, VOA)

Great big fat ones with steel and sapphire on their wings; and big moths, in the night, with skull and cross-bones on their backs.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The breeze was from the west: it came over the hills, sweet with scents of heath and rush; the sky was of stainless blue; the stream descending the ravine, swelled with past spring rains, poured along plentiful and clear, catching golden gleams from the sun, and sapphire tints from the firmament.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The other was fair, as fair as can be, with great wavy masses of golden hair and eyes like pale sapphires.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The researchers also said they monitored likely “visually stunning” clouds that could be made of corundum, a mineral found in rubies and sapphires, as they moved around the planet.

(Exoplanet Could Have Clouds of Rubies, Sapphires, VOA)