c. 1600, from Late Latin basaltes, misspelling of Latin basanites "very hard stone," from Greek basanites "a species of slate used to test gold," from basanos "touchstone." Not connected with salt. Said by Pliny ["Historia," 36.58] to be an African word, perhaps Egyptian bauhan "slate." Any hard, very dark rock would do as a touchstone; the assayer compared the streak left by the alleged gold with that of real gold or baser metals. Hence Greek basanizein "to be put to the test, examined closely, cross-examined, to be put to torture."
雙語例句
1. Her love was a fire playing ineffectually over a rock of basalt.
她的愛,如同一團火,徒勞地燒煉著一塊玄武巖石.
來自辭典例句
2. Basalt is the commonest volcanic rock.
玄武巖是最普通的火山巖.
來自辭典例句
3. Basalt is needed to surface a road or to build a break water.
需要用玄武巖來鋪設路面或修防洪堤.
來自辭典例句
4. Huoshan Dan black texture, basalt, granite, marble, and so on.
質地有黑色火山石 、 玄武巖 、 花崗巖 、 大理石等.
來自互聯網
5. The paper introduced the development and preparation of continuous basalt fiber.