Alabaster

1. of or resembling alabaster; 'alabaster statue'

noun 1. a compact fine-textured, usually white gypsum used for carving

noun 2. a hard compact kind of calcite

noun 3. a very light white

A fine-grained white or lightly-tinted variety of gypsum, used ornamentally.; A variety of calcite, translucent and sometimes banded.

Etymology: From Middle English alabastre, from Old French alabastre, from Latin alabaster (“box for perfumes or unguents”), from Ancient Greek ἀλάβαστρος (alábastros), from earlier ἀλάβαστος (alábastos, “vase without handles for storing perfumes”). This may further derive from Egyptian ꜥj-r-bꜣstjt (“vessel of the Egyptian goddess Bast”). The Latin suffix -aster is unrelated, but may have influenced the spelling of the borrowing from Ancient Greek (whence a direct loan could have been rendered as *alabastrus).

alabaster (fine-grained white or lightly-tinted variety of gypsum); alabaster object

Etymology: Inherited from Old Polish alabastyr.

alabaster

a box, tapering to a point at the top, for perfumes or unguents

Etymology: Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀλάβαστρος (alábastros), from earlier ἀλάβαστος (alábastos, “vase without handles for storing perfumes”).