adamantine

comparative more adamantine · superlative most adamantine

1. Synonym of adamant.
   1. Made of adamant (“an unspecified mineral or rock of virtually impenetrable hardness”).

      [A]t laſt appeer / Hell bounds high reaching to the horrid Roof, / And thrice threefold the Gates; three folds vvere Braſs, / Three iron, three of Adamantine Rock, / Impenitrable, impal'd vvith circling fire, / Yet unconsum'd.

      1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, signature [F4], recto, lines 643–648

   2. figurativelyIncapable of being broken, dissolved, or penetrated; impenetrable, unbreakable.

      adamantine bonds    adamantine chains

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      Vnleſſe the Deſtin's adamantine band / Should tye my teeth, I cannot chuſe but bite, […]

      1599, W. Kinsayder or Theriomastix [pseudonyms; John Marston], “Inamorato Curio”, in The Scourge of Villanie. […], London: […] I[ames] R[oberts], →OCLC; republished as G[eorge] B[agshawe] Harrison, editor, The Scourge of Villanie (The Bodley Head Quartos; 13), London: John Lane, The Bodley Head […]; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Company, 1925, →OCLC, page 82

      Hovv impetrable hee vvas in mollyfying the adamantineſt tiranny of mankinde, […]

      1599, [Thomas] Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe, […], London: […] [Thomas Judson and Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and C[uthbert] B[urby] […], →OCLC, page 21

      [T]o a vviſe man there can happen no iniury or offence at all, to moleſt the felicity of his minde, vvhich (in the Stoicks opinion) ought to bee imperturbable, and his heart adamantine.

      1605, Giacomo Affinati d’Acuto Romano, chapter 23, in A[nthony] M[unday], transl., The Dumbe Divine Speaker, or: Dumbe Speaker of Diuinity. […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for William Leake, […], →OCLC, page 257

      [I]t vvas thought the beſt pollicie, and ſafeſt for the State, That the Romane Empire ſhould be kept, & held vvithin bounds, to vvit, the Ocean, the rivers Iſter and Euphrates limits ſet by nature, to the end it might be a State Adamantine, (for ſo Auguſtus himſelfe ſpeaketh in Iulian,) that is, invincible; […]

      1610, William Camden, “Romans in Britaine”, in Philémon Holland, transl., Britain, or A Chorographicall Description of the Most Flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland, […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press for] Georgii Bishop & Ioannis Norton, →OCLC, page 39

      Giue me That Man, / VVho […] / Can dravv vvith Adamantine Pen, (euen creatures Forg'de out of th' Hammer[)], on tiptoe, to Reach vp, / And (from Rare ſilence) clap their Bravvny hands, / T' Applaud, vvhat their charmd ſoule ſcarce vnderſtands.

      1612, Thomas Dekker, “Prologue”, in If It Be Not Good, the Diuel Is In It. […], London: […] [Thomas Creede] for I[ohn] T[rundle] [a]nd are to be sold by Edward Marchant, […], →OCLC, signature [A4], verso

      Synonyms: immovable, impregnable, indomitable, inextinguishable, inexpugnable, insuperable, insuppressible, insurmountable

   3. figurativelyDifficult to defeat or prevail over; unshakable, unyielding.

      For two hours they stand; [François Claude Amour, marquis de] Bouillé's sword glittering in his hand, adamantine resolution clouding his brows; […]

      1837, Thomas Carlyle, “Bouille at Metz”, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume II (The Constitution), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book II (Nanci), page 81

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      He [William III of England] was proved by every test; […] by the imminent and constant risk of assassination, a risk which has shaken very strong nerves, a risk which severely tried even the adamantine fortitude of [Oliver] Cromwell.

      1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter VII, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume II, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 167

      In Measure for Measure [by William Shakespeare], the injustice of the judges, and the corrupt cowardice of the brother, are opposed to the victorious truth and adamantine purity of a woman.

      1864 (date delivered), John Ruskin, “Lecture I.—Sesame. Of Kings’ Treasuries.”, in Sesame and Lilies. Two Lectures Delivered at Manchester in 1864. […], London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], published 1865, →OCLC, pages 129–130

   4. figurativelyOf a person: refusing to change one's mind; obstinate, stubborn.

      I thought this last information would soften the young man, but he was adamantine. He informed me that it was against all bank rules for a woman to draw from her husband's deposit without his order.

      1871 March, J[ane] L[ippit] Patterson, “My Lost Banker; a Story in Three Chapters. [Chapter] III.”, in The Ladies’ Repository: A Universalist Monthly Magazine for the Home Circle, volume XLV, Boston, Mass.: Universalist Publishing House, […], →OCLC, page 191, column 1

      Synonyms: intractable, obdurate, adamant, ardent, grim, untiring, bent on, bloody-minded

   5. figurativelyobsoleteHaving the quality of attracting or drawing; attractive, magnetic.

      Embravvne your ſoft-skind encloſure vvith Adamantine duſt, that it may dravve nothing but ſteele vnto it.

      1593, Tho[mas] Nashe, Christs Teares Over Ierusalem. […], London: […] Iames Roberts, and are to be solde by Andrewe Wise, […], →OCLC, folio 34, recto

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      All mens eyes vvere preſently turnd to the North, ſtanding euen ſtone-ſtill in their Circles, like the poynts of ſo many Geometricall needles, through a fixed & Adamantine deſire to behold this 45. yeares vvonder novv brought forth by Tyme: […]

      1604, Tho[mas] Dekker, “A Device (Proiected Downe, but till Now Not Publisht,) that should have Serued at His Maiesties First Accesse to the Citie”, in The Magnificent Entertainment: Giuen to King Iames, Queene Anne His Wife, and Henry Frederick the Prince, vpon the Day of His Maiesties Tryumphant Passage (from the Tower) through His Honourable Citie (and Chamber) of London, being the 15. of March. 1603. […], London: […] T[homas] C[reede], Humphrey Lownes, Edward Allde and others] for Tho[mas] Man the yonger, →OCLC, signature A3, recto

      Hail, adamantine Steel! magnetic Lord! / King of the provv, the plovvſhare, and the ſvvord! / True to the pole, by thee the pilot guides / His ſteady helm amid the ſtruggling tides, […]

      1791, [Erasmus Darwin], “Canto II”, in The Botanic Garden; a Poem, in Two Parts. […], London: J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, part I (The Economy of Vegetation), page 79, lines 201–204

2. chemistryLike diamond in lustre; bright, lustrous, shiny; also, of a lustre: like that of a mineral with a high refractive index such as diamond.

   Raspite, a new dimorphous form of lead tungstate, is found on some of the stolzite specimens as brownish or yellow monoclinic crystals with a strong adamantine lustre.

   1898 June, “Abstracts”, in H[enry] A[lexander] Miers, editor, The Mineralogical Magazine and Journal of the Mineralogical Society, volume XII, number 54, London: W[illia]m Dawson & Sons with the permission of the Mineralogical Society [of Great Britain and Ireland], published 1965, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 47

1. alsoattributiveuncountablefictionSynonym of adamantium (“a fictional metal which is indestructible or nearly so”).

   Synonyms: adamantium