What is "topaz"

Topaz \To"paz\, n. [OE. topas, F. topaze, L. topazos, or topazion, a kind of precious stone, Gr. to`pazos, topa`zion; possibly akin to Skr. tap to glow (cf. Tepid). According to some, the name is from Topazos, a small island in the Red Sea, where the Romans obtained a stone which they called by this name, but which is the chrysolite of the moderns.]

1. (Min.) A mineral occurring in rhombic prisms, generally yellowish and pellucid, also colorless, and of greenesh, bluish, or brownish shades. It sometimes occurs massive and opaque. It is a fluosilicate of alumina, and is used as a gem.

2. (Zo["o]l.) Either one of two species of large, brilliantly colored humming birds of the genus Topaza ( Topaza pella or Topaza pyra), of South America and the West Indies.

   Note: The two tail feathers next to the central ones are much longer that the rest, curved, and crossed. The Throat is metallic yellowish-green, with a tint like topaz in the center, the belly is bright crimson, the back bright red. Called also topaz hummer.

   False topaz. (Min.) See the Note under Quartz.

colored crystalline gem, late 13c., from Old French topace (11c.), from Latin topazus (source also of Spanish topacio, Italian topazio), from Greek topazos, topazion, of obscure origin. Pliny says it was named for a remote island in the Red or Arabian Sea, where it was mined, the island so named for being hard to find (from Greek topazein "to divine, to try to locate"); but this might be folk etymology, and instead the word might be from the root of Sanskrit tapas "heat, fire." In the Middle Ages used for almost any yellow stone. To the Greeks and Romans, possibly yellow olivine or yellow sapphire. In modern science, fluo-silicate of aluminum. As a color name from 1908.

a. Of a yellowish-brown color, like that of the gemstone. n. A clear, yellowish-brown gemstone.

1. n. a yellow quartz [syn: false topaz, common topaz]

2. a mineral (fluosilicate of aluminum) that occurs in crystals of various colors and is used as a gemstone

3. a light brown [syn: tan]

TOPAZ is a think-tank of Czech political party TOP 09 which is its founder. It was established in April 2012 as a civic group, today it operates as an association.

Mission of TOPAZ is to transmit conservative ideas to wider partisan and non partisan public and to continue in educational activities that were coordinated by TOP 09 Internal Commission for Education in last years. Content of association's activity is discussion about society-wide topics along with independent experts, cooperation with expert committees of TOP 09, fundraising, creation of body alternatives to public administration outcomes and creation of analytical and conceptual materials that deal with individual issues and suggest possibilities of solving.

Establishment of TOPAZ as an educational platform of political party was inspired by similar projects abroad, for instance Political Academy of the Austrian People's Party or Konrad Adenauer Foundation with a bond to the Christian Democratic Union of Germany.

'Topaz ' is a 1945 documentary film, shot illegally (though with the assistance of members of the camp staff), which documented life at the Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah during World War II.

Filmed by internee Dave Tatsuno (1913–2006), it was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress in 1996, and was the second amateur film ever selected for preservation in the National Film Registry (behind the "Zapruder" film of the JFK assassination).

Tatsuno always credited his store supervisor, Walter Honderick, for helping him get the movie camera into the camp. Film was smuggled out of the camp on trips that Tatsuno made to buy merchandise for the store.

While images appear to show the internees happy and enjoying their lives, Tatsuno said that they were "hamming it up" for the camera, hiding their sorrow.

Topaz is a mineral or gemstone. It may also refer to:

Topaz is a Cold War suspense novel by Leon Uris, published in 1967 by McGraw-Hill. The novel spent one week atop The New York Times Best Seller List (on the list dated October 15, 1967), and was Uris's first New York Times number-one bestseller since Exodus in 1959. During its 52-week run on the list, Topaz set two records in two weeks; those for largest positional jump to number-one (9-1) and largest positional fall from number-one (1-5).

Topaz is a fictional character, a sorceress in the Marvel Comics universe.

Topaz is the 10th album by the American Jazz group The Rippingtons. It was released in 1999 for the Windham Hill label.
The album reached #2 on Billboard's contemporary Jazz chart.

Topaz, in comics may refer to:

• Topaz (Marvel Comics), a Marvel Comics sorceress
• Topaz (Malibu Comics), a Malibu Comics superhero

Topaz is a cultivar of dessert apple that was developed in Czech republic by the Institute of Experimental Botany for scab resistance. According to Orange Pippin it is "one of the best modern disease-resistant varieties, with fairly sharp flavour".

Topaz is a 1969 American espionage thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Based on the 1967 Cold War novel Topaz by Leon Uris, the film is about a French intelligence agent who becomes entangled in the Cold War politics of the events leading up to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and later the breakup of an international Russian spy ring in France. The story is closely based on the 1962 Sapphire Affair, which involved the head of French Intelligence SDECE in the United States, and spy Philippe Thyraud de Vosjoli—a friend of Leon Uris—who played an important role in "helping the U.S. discover the presence of Russian offensive missiles in Cuba". The film stars Frederick Stafford, Dany Robin, John Vernon, Karin Dor, Michel Piccoli, Philippe Noiret, Claude Jade, Michel Subor and John Forsythe.

Topaz is a character from Malibu Comics' series, Ultraforce. She first appeared in Giant-Size Mantra #1.

Topaz was a warrior Queen from the extradimensional matriarchal realm of Gwendor. A crashed alien spacecraft (connected to the Entity on the Moon) created a series of random pan-dimensional gateways, briefly connecting Gwendor to the Ultraverse, and leaving Queen Topaz stranded in a strange world; one in which males were not properly subservient slaves, but thought themselves equal to or even superior to women, also dominate them into submissive objects. Topaz was outraged by this blasphemous notion, but Pixx of the Ultraforce calmed her by showing her an image of the "true power behind men": Hillary Clinton. Pixx explained that Earth males have fragile egos, and that it was easier for women to let males think they were in charge. Despite the fact that the women lived in a patriarchal system and thus the struggle for equality is not finished. Pixx is shown to be a self-alienate. Topaz, still disturbed by this world's unnatural order, reflecting that the fact that humans were initially in more matriarchal societies, nonetheless consented to join the Ultraforce, even though it was led by a male ( Hardcase).

Topaz is a female supremacist; she believes that males are inherently inferior and becomes quite easily angered when men talk down to women or act chauvinistic. She gets along well with Pixx, but though she initially respected Contrary, she now looks down on her for often using seduction as a way to deal with men. The males on the team are beneath her notice, although she grudgingly starts to respect Hardcase as a warrior.

The topazes are two species of hummingbirds in the genus Topaza. They are found in humid forests in the Amazon Basin. Males are by far the largest hummingbirds in their range – the giant hummingbird of the Andes is the only larger species in the family. Males have a total length of about , although this includes their elongated rectrices. They are very colourful, being mainly strongly iridescent golden and crimson with a black hood and a green throat. Females lack the elongated rectrices and have a mainly green plumage.

Topaz is a 1999 album by cellist Erik Friedlander which was released on the Siam label and features the quartet that became known as Topaz.

Topaz plc is the largest bookmaker in Azerbaijan. In 2014, it was listed as one of the most recognised brands in the country.