Meanings
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1
noun
historical geology: a foliated metamorphic rock composed chiefly of mica and quartz, now usually called mica schist
The road cutting exposed folded layers of mica-slate beneath the granite.
Thesaurus
Etymology
A compound of mica + slate. Nineteenth-century geologists used mica-slate for a fissile metamorphic rock rich in mica and quartz; modern geological classification usually calls the same rock mica schist. Mica ultimately comes from Latin mica, 'crumb,' while slate comes through Old French from a Germanic word for a split piece.