The Collaborative International Dictionary
Zaffer \Zaf"fer\, n. [F. zafre, safre; cf. Sp. zafra, safra, It. saffera, G. zaffer; all probably of Arabic origin. Cf. Zaphara.] A pigment obtained, usually by roasting cobalt glance with sand or quartz, as a dark earthy powder. It consists of crude cobalt oxide, or of an impure cobalt arseniate. It is used in porcelain painting, and in enameling pottery, to produce a blue color, and is often confounded with smalt, from which, however, it is distinct, as it contains no potash. The name is often loosely applied to mixtures of zaffer proper with silica, or oxides of iron, manganese, etc. [Written also zaffre, and formerly zaffree, zaffar, zaffir.]
Wiktionary
n. (alternative form of zaffre English)
Usage examples of "zaffer".
It turned the water many shades of aquamarine ranging from deep cobalt through the zaffer blues, the baby blues, and where the water was very shoal, tinted with yellow.
It was faint now, the most lucent of zaffer flushes, but the color was becoming more pronounced.