cats-eye

Home > ... > Earth and the Environment > Minerals, Mining, and Metallurgy > Mineralogy and Crystallography > ...

Essential reading Compare
side-by-side The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition

cat's-eye

cat's-eye gemstone that displays a thin band of reflected light on its surface when cut as a cabochon. Its name is derived from its supposed resemblance to the eye of a cat. The optical effect, known as chatoyancy, is caused by the reflection of light from very thin, closely spaced filaments in parallel arrangement within the stone. True cat's-eye, a variety of chrysoberyl from Sri Lanka and Brazil, is the most valuable, but some quartz, tourmaline, and a few other minerals that display chatoyancy are also used as gems. A golden-yellow species called tiger's-eye is a form of quartz that contains crocidolite asbestos.

Create a link to this page

Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

Give this article a thumbs-up on StumbleUpon

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

"cat's-eye." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 29 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"cat's-eye." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (November 29, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-catseye.html

"cat's-eye." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Retrieved November 29, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-catseye.html

Learn more about citation styles

cats-eye

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English | 2009 | © The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English 2009, originally published by Oxford University Press 2009. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

cat's-eye • n. a semiprecious stone, esp. chalcedony or chrysoberyl, with a chatoyant luster.

Create a link to this page

Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

"cat's-eye." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 29 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"cat's-eye." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (November 29, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-catseye.html

"cat's-eye." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved November 29, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-catseye.html

Learn more about citation styles

Related entries from encyclopedias, dictionaries and thesauruses

Rate these entries|See all related entries

Free newspaper and magazine articles

	FDA Issues Warning Against Obtaining Decorative Contact Lenses Without a Prescription and Professional Fitting; Wearing Cat Eyes for Halloween May be for the Birds. Business Wire; 10/24/2002
	Cats eye four in a row. Newspaper article from: Wakefield Express (Wakefield, England); 3/10/2007
	CATS EYE SWOOP FOR HIBS DUO. Newspaper article from: Shields Gazette (South Shields, England); 11/23/2006

Facts and information from other sites

Related articles from newspapers, magazines, and more

	Cats' eyes: exquisitely fascinating: they're colorful, expressive and a vital component of your cat's hunting instinct and body language.(NOTEWORTHY) Magazine article from: Cat Watch; 7/1/2009; 700+ words ; ...get lost in your cat s eyes? Although...usually associate cats' eyes with the...born with blue eyes--the same as...brown. "The eye also derives some...appearance that the eyes are glowing...primarily due to a cat's tapetum lucidum...to maximize the eye's ...
	CATS' EYES SPIES; Tiny cameras on road will trap speedsters.(News) Newspaper article from: Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland); 5/7/2001; 541 words ; ...going on to fit the new cats' eyes at accident blackspots...but the RAC denied the cats' eyes would cause a similar...Brother sticking out from a cat's eye is highly unlikely...angled lenses let the cats' eyes film the road from less...
	Whatever happened to; CATS EYES 1985-87.(Features) Newspaper article from: Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland); 9/18/1999; 476 words ; ...a much less glamorous one at that. CATS Eyes was the tale of three intrepid girl...Covert Activities Thames Section (CATS). Head of the team was tall Oxford...joined the team to keep up the numbers. CATS Eyes was one of former model Leslie...
	Why are cats' eyes disappearing from roads? Newspaper article from: Sentinel, The (Stoke-on-Trent UK); 4/30/2009; 282 words ; Cats' Eyes: Can someone from Staffordshire County Council tell me why they are removing the cats' eyes in the road from Gorsty through to Madeley? Cats' eyes are probably one of the most efficient and least...
	WHY DO CATS' EYES GLOW IN THE DARK?(Features) Newspaper article from: The Mirror (London, England); 11/1/1997; ; 700+ words ; It's dark but you can see your cat's eyes. You shake a bottle of pop up and when you...in suddenly to make a funny sound. Why do cats' eyes glow in the dark? The back of a cat's eye reflects a small amount of the light that...
	Strike a light! The 'cats eyes' are still not fixed Newspaper article from: Aberdeen Evening Express; 1/28/2008; 507 words ; ...elegant, inventions ever. The humble cats eyes must have saved thousands of lives...were both amazed at the huge number of cats eyes that were still missing or in...fact that they seemed to be the same cats eyes missing on the same stretches...
	Danger cats eyes torn up.(News) Newspaper article from: The People (London, England); 10/17/2004; 291 words ; MORE than a thousand new hi-tech cats eyes costing over pounds 30,000 have been...dangerous. Brighter solar powered cats eyes costing pounds 30 each were put...222 have been replaced with normal cats eyes. A Highways Authority spokesman...
	How cats' eyes keep the world in focus. News Wire article from: Australasian Business Intelligence; 1/11/2006; 415 words ; ...ABIX via COMTEX) -- Swedish scientists believe that cats' eyes have evolved into their slit shape in order to help them...better in the dark. Previously it was believed that the eyes of cats and many other historically nocturnal animals had slit...
	Improvements to be made to notorious coastal road ; Cats' eyes and road markings are to be reinstated on a notorious yet picturesque Westcountry coastal road. Newspaper article from: Western Morning News, The Plymouth (UK); 1/12/2009; 522 words ; Cats' eyes and road markings are to be reinstated on...communities and road- users who called for cats' eyes and road markings to be returned as...engineers, which recommended reinstating cats' eyes and a centre line on certain bends...
	Carol Malone's Column: Nothing wrong with cats' eyes.(Features) Newspaper article from: Sunday Mirror (London, England); 10/17/1999; ; 279 words ; ...humans have been able to see through the eyes of a cat. By wiring up a moggy's brain to...human faces register in the eyes of a cat only as a collection of dark and light...t buy that. How come my friend's cat, Mittens, just needs to get a sideways...