[L. amiantus, a. Gr. ἀμίαντος undefiled, undefilable; also subst. the mineral, because freed from all stains by being thrown in the fire, it being itself incombustible. Spelling corrupted by confusion with polyanthus, etc. The correct form amiantus should be used.]
1. A mineral, a variety of asbestos, splitting into long flexible pearly white fibers, which have been woven into a fabric.
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., II. iii. § 2. 62. Middle Prized Stones … Incombustible nature … Amiantus, Asbestus.
1671. Phil. Trans., VI. 2167. That Lanuginous Stone, called Amianthus.
1725. Bradley, Fam. Dict., Amianthus, call’d by us sometimes Earthflax, and sometimes Salamander’s Hair.
1750. Leonardus’s Mirr. Stones, 75. Amiantus or Amianthus … is not to be destroyed by Fire.
1866. Ruskin, Ethics of Dust, 76. Here is amianthus, for instance, which is quite as fine and soft as any cotton thread you ever sewed with.
2. A fibrous kind of chrysolite of a greenish color; the ἀμίαντος of Dioscorides.
1862. Dana, Man. Geol., § 18. 61. Serpentine … also delicately fibrous, and then called amianthus or chrysolite.
