Definition of "chrysoberyl" []

• A gray, green to yellow, or brown vitreous mineral, BeAl2O4, relatively rare and used as a gemstone. (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.

• "When chrysoberyl is of fibrous or tubular internal structure it affords cat's-eyes (when cabochon cut), and these should be specifically named as "_chrysoberyl cat's-eye_" to distinguish them from the less beautiful and less valuable quartz cat's-eyes."
• "Passing on to the next mineral in the scale of hardness we come to chrysoberyl, which is rated as 8-1/2 on Mohs's scale."
• "It is like gold, or more exactly it is like the gold-coloured semi-precious stone which one sometimes sees in signet rings, and which I think is called a chrysoberyl."