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From the AWAD archives: Quote:
chatoyant (shuh-TOI-uhnt) adjective Having a changeable luster like that of a cat's eye at night.
I understood this word to be a technical term from gemmery to mean, basically, having a stripe of different-coloured stone. Modern dictionaries (see below) don't mention the figurative sense.
Quote:
chatoyant adjective (of a gem, esp. when cut en cabochon) showing a band of bright reflected light caused by aligned inclusions in the stone. DERIVATIVES chatoyance noun chatoyancy noun.ORIGIN late 18th cent.: French, present participle of chatoyer ‘to shimmer.’
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
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 sh-toint
ADJECTIVE: Having a changeable luster.
NOUN: A chatoyant stone or gemstone, such as the cat's-eye.
ETYMOLOGY: French, present participle of chatoyer, to shimmer like cats' eyes, from chat, cat, from Vulgar Latin *cattus, perhaps of African origin.
OTHER FORMS: cha·toyan·cy —NOUN - AHD4 (a decidedly modern dictionary; see also MW-CD and others -- perhaps you were looking only at the noun form)
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