Diamond

Diamond, dī′a-mond, n. the most valuable of all gems, and the hardest of all substances: a four-sided figure with two obtuse and two acute angles: one of the four suits of cards: one of the smallest kinds of English printing type.—adj. resembling diamonds: made of diamonds: marked with diamonds: lozenge-shaped, rhombic.—ns. Dī′amond-bee′tle, a beautiful sparkling South American weevil; Dī′amond-cut′ting, diamond-setting; Dī′amond-drill, an annular borer whose bit is set with borts; Dī′amond-dust, Dī′amond-pow′der, the powder made by the friction of diamonds on one another in the course of polishing.—adjs. Dī′amonded, furnished with diamonds; Diamondif′erous, yielding diamonds.—n. Dī′amond-wheel, a wheel covered with diamond-dust and oil for polishing diamonds and other precious stones.—Diamond cut diamond, the case of an encounter between two very sharp persons.—Rough diamond, an uncut diamond: a person of great worth, though of rude exterior and unpolished manners. [M. E. adamaunt—O. Fr. adamant—L. adamanta, accus. of adamas—Gr. adamas, adamantos, adamant—a, not, damaein, to tame.]