ag´ate|like´

ag|ate¹ «AG iht», noun.

1. a kind of quartz with colored stripes, cloudy colors, or mosslike formations.

2. a marble used in games that looks like agate.

3. a piece of this quartz.

4. a burnisher, die plate, or other tool made of it.

5. U.S. a size of printing type (5½ point), called ruby in England. The term survives largely in the phrase agate line.

╂[< Old French agathe, alteration of acate, learned borrowing from Latin achātēs < Greek achātēs]

–ag´ate|like´, adjective.

a|gate² «uh GAYT», adverb.

Scottish and Northern English. on the way; going.

╂[< a-¹ on + obsolete gate way, path]