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The Collaborative International Dictionary
hornblende

Amphibole \Am"phi*bole\ ([a^]m"f[i^]*b[=o]l), n. [Gr. 'amfi`bolos doubtful, equivocal, fr. 'amfiba`llein to throw round, to doubt: cf. F. amphibole. Ha["u]y so named the genus from the great variety of color and composition assumed by the mineral.] (Min.) A common mineral embracing many varieties varying in color and in composition. It occurs in monoclinic crystals; also massive, generally with fibrous or columnar structure. The color varies from white to gray, green, brown, and black. It is a silicate of magnesium and calcium, with usually aluminium and iron. Some common varieties are tremolite, actinolite, asbestus, edenite, hornblende (the last name being also used as a general term for the whole species). Amphibole is a constituent of many crystalline rocks, as syenite, diorite, most varieties of trachyte, etc. See Hornblende.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
hornblende

1796, from German Hornblende, from horn (see horn (n.)) + blende (see blende).\n\nThe term "Hornblende" is an old German name for any dark, prismatic crystal found with metallic ores but containing no valuable metal (the word "Blende" indicates "a deceiver")

[Herbert Bucksch, "Dictionary Geotechnical Engineering," 1995]

Wiktionary
hornblende

n. A green to black amphibole mineral, of complex structure, formed in the late stages of cooling in igneous rock.

WordNet
hornblende

n. a green to black mineral of the amphibole group; consists of silicates of calcium and sodium and magnesium and iron

Wikipedia
Hornblende

Hornblende is a complex inosilicate series of minerals (ferrohornblende – magnesiohornblende). It is not a recognized mineral in its own right, but the name is used as a general or field term, to refer to a dark amphibole.

Hornblende is an isomorphous mixture of three molecules; a calcium- iron- magnesium silicate, an aluminium-iron-magnesium silicate, and an iron-magnesium silicate.

The general formula can be given as (Ca,Na)(Mg,Fe,Al)(Al,Si)O(OH,F).

Usage examples of "hornblende".

Oswald Brunies, the strutting, candy-sucking teacher -- a monument will be erected to him -- to him with magnifying glass on elastic, with sticky bag in sticky coat pocket, to him who collected big stones and little stones, rare pebbles, preferably mica gneiss -- muscovy biotite -- quartz, feldspar, and hornblende, who picked up pebbles, examined them, rejected or kept them, to him the Big Playground of the Conradinum was not an abrasive stumbling block but a lasting invitation to scratch about with the tip of his shoe after nine rooster steps.

This is more especially true of chlorite, schorl, hornblende and augite.

Cordilleras are formed of innumerable varieties of granites, gneiss, schists, hornblende, chloritic slates, porphyries, etc.

The remaining rocks from here are richer in lime and iron, and show a series of gradual transitions from micacious granite, through grano-diorite to quartz diorite, with considerable quantities of dark mica, and green hornblende.

Rose quartz crystals like pink diamonds, spiky red cinnabar, forest green malachite, translucent gypsum, and, yes, red wulfenite, hornblende, and peacock coal were clustered side by side with topaz, tourmaline, amethyst, garnet, and opal.

Many of the latter are magnetite, while the others are hornblende and various ferromagnesian silicates.

Afternoon concert: gneisses, some augite, hornblende, slate, mica, Mozart, twittering eunuchs from the Kyrie to the chorale Dona nobis: polyphonic peeping -- but no sign of a teacher under a Bismarck hat.

Oswald Brunies, the strutting, candy-sucking teacher -- a monument will be erected to him -- to him with magnifying glass on elastic, with sticky bag in sticky coat pocket, to him who collected big stones and little stones, rare pebbles, preferably mica gneiss -- muscovy biotite -- quartz, feldspar, and hornblende, who picked up pebbles, examined them, rejected or kept them, to him the Big Playground of the Conradinum was not an abrasive stumbling block but a lasting invitation to scratch about with the tip of his shoe after nine rooster steps.

Unfortunately, the only minerals Maia could recognize were biotite, for its gray flecks, and dark, glossy hornblende.

Some uraninite, hornblende, quartz-but a number of other compounds I cannot immediately identify.