crystal

• crystall (obsolete)
• chrystal (obsolete)
• cristal (obsolete)

From Middle English crystal, cristal, criȝstall, from Old English cristalla (“crystal”), a borrowing from Latin crystallum (“crystal, ice”) (later reinforced from Anglo-Norman cristall and Middle French cristal, from Latin crystallum), from Ancient Greek κρύσταλλος (krústallos, “clear ice”), from κρύος (krúos, “frost”), from Proto-Indo-European *krews- (“hard, hard outer surface, crust”).

• enPR: krĭsʹtəl, IPA^(key): /ˈkɹɪstəl/

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• Rhymes: -ɪstəl

crystal (countable and uncountable, plural crystals)

1. (countable) A solid composed of an array of atoms or molecules possessing long-range order and arranged in a pattern which is periodic in three dimensions.

   Synonym: grain

   Antonyms: amorphous, glass

2. (countable) A piece of glimmering, shining mineral resembling ice or glass.
3. (uncountable) A fine type of glassware, or the material used to make it.
4. (uncountable, slang) Crystal meth: methamphetamine hydrochloride.
   • 1968, Joan Didion, “Slouching Towards Bethlehem”, in Slouching Towards Bethlehem:

     He tells me he's been shooting crystal, which I already pretty much know because he does not bother to keep his sleeves rolled down over the needle tracks.

5. (obsolete, usually in the plural) a person's eye.
   • 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], page 75, column 2:

     Come, let's away. My loue, giue me thy Lippes: Looke to my Chattels, and my Moueables: [...] Goe, cleare they Chryſtalls. Yokefellowes in Armes, let vs to France

     Come, let's away. My love, kiss me. Look after my goods and property [...] Go, dry your eyes. Comrades in arms, let us to France

6. The glass over the dial of a watch case.

• → Hindi: क्रिस्टल (krisṭal)
• → Japanese: クリスタル (kurisutaru)

crystal (not comparable)

1. Made of crystal.
   • 1887, Joseph W[arren] Smith, Gleanings from the Sea: Showing the Pleasures, Pains and Penalties of Life Afloat, with Contingencies Ashore, Andover, Mass.: […] the Author, page 116:

     Its ceiling was crystal, around on the wall / Thickly studded were rubies and diamonds rare; / But purer than crystal, and brighter than all / Of the jewels adorning her glittering hall, / Was the mermaiden languishing there.

   • 1985, Patricia C[ollins] Wrede, Talking to Dragons, New York, N.Y.: Tempo Books, →ISBN, page 146:

     The walls were crystal, and they seemed to have hundreds of different-colored lights shifting behind them.

   • 2000, Dennis L[ester] McKiernan, Silver Wolf, Black Falcon, Roc Books, →ISBN, page 439:

     The uneven floor was crystal as well, as if there once had been huge crystals jutting up here, too, but ones that had been broken away and the surface crudely adzed.

2. Very clear.

   "Do I make myself clear?" / "Crystal."

   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 23, columns 1–2:

     […] the more faire and chriſtall is the skie,
     The vglier ſeeme the cloudes that in it flye: […]

• crystalline

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “crystal”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.