Online Edition
This edition has been carefully prepared in a proprietary format. All of the words, definitions and examples have been preserved, but the explanations of word origins have been omitted to make using the data in a digital format more accessible. We have omitted Webster's lengthy technical introduction for the same reason.
Scripture references have been standardized in a modern format, and many abbreviations have been expanded for ease in understanding.
Alabaster
AL'ABASTER, noun [Latin from Gr.]
A sub-variety of carbonate of lime, found in large masses, formed by the deposition of calcarious particles in caverns of limestone rocks. These concretions have a foliated, fibrous or granular structure, and are of a pure white color, or more generally they present shades of yellow, red or brown, in undulating or concentric stripes, or in spots.
Among the ancients, alabaster was also the name of a vessel in which odoriferous liquors were kept; so called from the stone of which it was made. Also, the name of a measure, containing ten ounces of wine or nine of oil.
AL'ABASTER, adjective Made of alabaster or resembling it.
Alabastrum dendroide, a kind of laminated alabaster variegated with figures of shrubs and trees, found in the province of Hohenstein.
First Occurrence in the Bible(KJV): Matthew 26:7