Definition of "calamine" []

• See hemimorphite. (noun)
• A pink, odorless, tasteless powder of zinc oxide with a small amount of ferric oxide, dissolved in mineral oils and used in skin lotions. (noun)
• An alloy composed of lead, tin, and zinc. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The name calamine (G.rman, _G.lmei_), from _lapis calaminaris_, a Latin corruption of cadmia ([G.eek: kadmia]), the old name for zinc ores in general (G. Agricola in 1546 derived it from the Latin _calamus_, a reed), was early used indiscriminately for the carbonate and the hydrous silicate of zinc, and even now both species are included by miners under the same term."
• "F.S. Beudant in 1832 restricted the name calamine to the hydrous silicate and proposed the name"
• "I can see she’s being bathed in calamine and baking soda there …"