sunstone
noun
Forms sunstones
- noun (mineralogy) A translucent form of feldspar having flakes of hematite, used as an ornamental stone.
- noun A stone, possibly Icelandic spar, said in late medieval sources to have been used by navigators in the Viking Age and later to find the location of the sun in an overcast sky, possibly via polarization of light.
Synonyms
Etymology
sun + stone. Compare Icelandic sólarsteinn.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Aventurine feldspar. See under Aventurine.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “sunstone”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details