Crossword clues for obsidian
obsidian
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
obsidian \ob*sid"i*an\, n. [L. Obsidianus lapis, so named, according to Pliny, after one Obsidius, who discovered it in Ethiopia: cf. F. obsidiane, obsidienne. The later editions of Pliny read Obsianus lapis, and Obsius, instead of Obsidianus lapis, and Obsidius.] (Min.) A kind of glass produced by volcanoes. It is usually of a black color, and opaque, except in thin splinters.
Note: In a thin section it often exhibits a fluidal structure, marked by the arrangement of microlites in the lines of the flow of the molten mass.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"dark, hard volcanic rock," 1650s, from Latin obsidianus, misprint of Obsianus (lapis) "(stone) of Obsius," name of a Roman alleged by Pliny to have found this rock in Ethiopia.
Wiktionary
a. (context poetic English) black n. (context mineral English) a type of black glass produced by volcanoes
WordNet
n. acid or granitic glass; usually dark, but transparent in thin pieces
Wikipedia
Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed as an extrusive igneous rock.
It is produced when felsic lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. Obsidian is commonly found within the margins of rhyolitic lava flows known as obsidian flows, where the chemical composition (high silica content) induces a high viscosity and polymerization degree of the lava. The inhibition of atomic diffusion through this highly viscous and polymerized lava explains the lack of crystal growth. Obsidian is hard and brittle; it therefore fractures with very sharp edges, which were used in the past in cutting and piercing tools, and it has been used experimentally as surgical scalpel blades.
Obsidian is a type of volcanic glass.
Obsidian may also refer to:
- Obsidian, a block in Minecraft
- Obsidian (video game), a 1996 adventure game developed by Rocket Science Games
- Obsidian (1986 video game), a 1986 game written for the Amstrad CPC
- Obsidian (Transformers), a Transformers character
- Obsidian (comics), a DC Comics character
- Obsidian Entertainment, a video-game developer
- Obsidian Order, the fictional Cardassian intelligence agency from Star Trek
- Obsidian (album), the third studio album from electronic musician Baths
- "Obsidian", an instrumental track on Swedish metal band Meshuggah's fourth studio album, Nothing
- "Obsidian", a music track on Banco de Gaia's fifth studio album, Igizeh
- Obsidian, Idaho, a town in Custer County, Idaho
Obsidian is the second studio album by American electronic musician Baths released on 28 May 2013 on Anticon. The album was preceded by the single "Miasma Sky".
Obsidian is a 1996 computer game created by Rocket Science Games for Mac OS and Windows platforms.
Based on a game design outline by VP of Development/Creative Director, Bill Davis, and written by Howard Cushnir and Adam Wolff, the genre of the game was a first-person 3-D graphical adventure game, with a large puzzle element. The puzzles were designed by Scott Kim, Howard Cushnir and Adam Wolff. The soundtrack was developed by Thomas Dolby.
The game spanned five CDs, and featured pre-rendered environments, audio, and full-motion video (both live action and CGI). The strategy guide included numerous small essays throughout the book, providing background on such subjects as nanotechnology, Jungian psychology, and the nature of artificial intelligence.
One of its notable puzzles was a minigame which used a "twenty questions" algorithm (similar to what would eventually be used in 20Q). The game came preprogrammed with a set of guesses, but after losing it would ask the player for criteria that would have led it to a correct guess—and then recorded that information into a text file. Because of this, the game was able to (theoretically) "learn" how to become so good as to beat the player every time.
Obsidian is an action-adventure computer game for the Amstrad CPC personal computer published by Artic Computing in 1986. The game is set on the titular space station located within the centre of an asteroid, which is out of control and drifting towards a black hole. The player must guide an astronaut with a jet pack around the station and re-activate its engine shields to prevent the Obsidian's destruction. This involves collecting items and using them to solve puzzles, while avoiding the Obsidian's reactivated security systems.
Obsidian is the first game that was developed by Revolution Software co-founder Tony Warriner, who was a school pupil at the time. Due to concentrating on Obsidian's development rather than revising he failed all of his exams. The game received a positive response from journalists, it was praised for the quality of its graphics, reviewers held mixed views on the game's ability to maintain player interest. The jet pack was criticized for being too sensitive when responding to the player's movement inputs.
Usage examples of "obsidian".
The face was of pure gold, the eyes were made of aragonite and obsidian, the brows and lids of lapis-lazuli glass.
Seoulpa soldiers stared at Argent, his obsidian gaze totally unreadable.
Jasper looked up at Hannah and gave her a small smile, his tiny obsidian eyes expressing a much becalmed disposition.
Hunter Predd and Walker arrived aboard Obsidian at the seaport of March Brume, some distance north of Bracken Clell on the coast of the Blue Divide.
He started out across the landing field with Chai, running over the black scars of old flames, stumbling on calcined rock and ridges of glassy slag like cheap obsidian, flawed and stained.
The dactyl flexed again and the crack widened, and then, with a sudden powerful burst, the beast blew apart the obsidian, stretched its great wings out to the side, clawed tips grasping and rending the air.
There could be no struggles for power among the mortal leaders of the various races when the dactyl sat on its obsidian throne.
Dressed now in the loose cotton trousers and shirt that Obsidian had brought her, she came into the bedroom trying to detangle her hair.
He had arrived at the gate and asked after Drisheen, as if he had not already known the man was out of the city for an extended journey, and the gatekeeper had told him that Lord Drisheen was traveling, but had left detailed instructions of what to do if Lord Obsidian came visiting.
There had been little satisfaction in so brief a fight, and while Stone-hand had participated in the looting of Obsidian and had served Lord Enziet, he had not been so outrageously cruel as Drisheen, nor so callous as Enziet or the other lords.
GM tomatoes are as different from the crop of my youth as the einkorn and emmer they harvested in the Fertile Crescent with obsidian sickles.
The pupils were black and bright as obsidian, the iris opaque with fury, the whites engorged with blood.
The boy looks into Mugwump eyes blank as obsidian mirrors, pools of black blood, glory holes in a toilet wall closing on the Last Erection.
Cady, wife to the great Shikar Warrior Obsidian, glided into the room.
Nith Immmon for ten minutes along stone-clad corridors, through waiting areas flagged with agate tiles, down green-onyx and cor-blood-red-porphyry staircases, across abandoned skylit plazas, studded with obsidian plinths that had once held the trembling bodies of animals sacrificed to the Kun-dalan goddess Miina.