[ad. L. anthracītes, a. Gr. ἀνθρακῑτης coal-like, f. ἄνθρακ- (-αξ) coal.]
† 1. A stone described by Pliny, supposed to be hydrophane. Obs.
1601. Holland, Pliny (1634), II. 617. There is found in Thesprotia a certaine minerali Rubie called Anthracitis, resembling coles of fire.
1750. Leonardus’s Mirr. Stones, 69. Antracites or Antracas, is a sparkling Stone of a fiery Colour.
2. The non-bituminous variety of coal, called also Glance coal, Blind coal, and Stone coal.
1812. Sir H. Davy, Chem. Philos., 313. The anthracite of Kilkenny … has all the characters of well burned charcoal.
1833. Lyell, Princ. Geol., III. 373. In the vicinity of some trap dikes, coal is converted into anthracite.
1856. Bryant, Rhode-Island Coal, viii. Dark anthracite! that reddenest on my hearth.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, I. 192. The term Culm is applied generally to anthracite in our parliamentary annals.
3. attrib., as anthracite coal, stove; anthracite basin, bed, in geology.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev. (1872), III. VII. iii. 253. Anthracite coal, difficult to kindle, but which no known thing will put out.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., I. 67. Anthracite coal … is almost pure carbon.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., ii. (1856), 21. Three anthracite stoves.
1858. Motley, Dutch Rep., I. 2. That picturesque anthracite basin where now stands the city of Namur.
1851. Dixon, W. Penn, xxi. (1872), 182. Inexhaustible fields of coal; and anthracite beds of the same fossil.
