Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CRYS'TAL, n. [L. crystallus; Gr. κρυσταλλος; Fr. cristal; Sp. cristal; It. cristallo; D. kristal; G. krystall; W. crisial, from cris, it is said, a hard crust. It is from the same root as crisp, and W. cresu, to parch, crest, a crust, crasu, to roast. The Greek, from which we have the word, is composed of the root of κρυος, frost, a contracted word, probably from the root of the Welsh words, supra, and στελλω, to set. The primary sense of the Welsh words is to shrink, draw, contract; a sense equally applicable to the effects of heat and cold. Qu. Ar. قَرَسَ karasa, Ch. קרש kerash, to congeal. Class Rd, No. 83, 85.]

1. In chimistry and mineralogy, an inorganic body, which, by the operation of affinity, has assumed the form of a regular solid, terminated by a certain number of plane and smooth surfaces. Cleaveland.
2. A factitious body, cast in glass-houses, called crystal glass; a species of glass, more perfect in its composition and manufacture, than common glass. The best kind is the Venice crystal. It is called also factitious crystal or paste. – Encyc. Nicholson.
3. A substance of any kind having the form of a crystal.
4. The glass of a watch-case. Rock crystal, or mountain crystal, a general name for all the transparent crystals of quartz, particularly of limpid or colorless quartz. Iceland crystal, a variety of calcarious spar, or crystalized carbonate of lime, brought from Iceland. It occurs in laminated masses, easily divisible into rhombs, and is remarkable for its double refraction. – Cleaveland.