Min. Also 6–7 lapis lazari, 7 lazarilli. Also shortened LAZULI. [L. lapis + med.L. lazuli gen. of lazulum: see AZURE.] A complex silicate containing sulphur, of bright blue color, used as a pigment (see ULTRAMARINE). Also, the color of this mineral.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVI. cii. (1495), 588. Zineth is a stone other a veyne of erthe wherof lapis Lazuli is made.
1460–70. Bk. Quintessence, II. 18. Poudre of lapis lasuly.
c. 1530. in Gutch, Coll. Cur., II. 341. A peyre of Beydes of Lapis Lazary.
1641. French, Distill., v. (1651), 168. It will become full of golden veins very like true lapis lazuli.
1692. Settle, Tri. Lond., 9. On the Right and Left of these Columns, stand four Pilasters of Lapis Lazari.
1740. Thompson & Hogg, in Hanway’s Trav. (1762), I. IV. lii. 243. Formerly they received lapis-lazuli, and other precious stones, from Biddukshan.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 414. Ultramarine is a preparation of calcined lapis-lazuli.
1870. Disraeli, Lothair, lxxi. The terrace … looked upon a sea of lapis lazuli.
attrib. 1881. Ethel Coxon, Basil Pl., II. 78. The splendour of the wrinkled lapis lazuli sea.
1896. Georgiana M. Stisted, Life R. F. Burton, xi. 169. The water … was of a deep lapis lazuli blue.
