n. 1. Any of various shiny minerals composed chiefly of metallic sulfides. 2. See sphalerite. [German, from blenden, to deceive (because it resembles lead ore), from Middle High German blenden, from Old High German blentan, to blind, deceive; see bhel-1 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.