The Collaborative International Dictionary
Amianthus
Amianthus \Am`i*an"thus\, n. [L. amiantus, Gr. ? ? (lit., unsoiled stone) a greenish stone, like asbestus; 'a priv. + ? to stain, to defile; so called from its incombustibility.] (Min.) Earth flax, or mountain flax; a soft silky variety of asbestus.
Wiktionary
amianthus
n. a type of asbestos with long, soft, thin fibers
Usage examples of "amianthus".
The Chinese and the Corsicans blend the fibres of amianthus in their pottery to give it tenacity.
To make her buffers and washers hold together in the shocks to which they would be subjected, she took common cartilage and mingled the white fibrous tissue with it, to serve the same purpose as the hair in the mortar, the straw in the bricks and in the plaster of the old wall, and the amianthus in the earthen vessels.