Grăn'ite, n.

(grăn'it), n. [Fr. granit, It. granito, Sp. granido, from Lat. granum, grain, It. granito, grainy, grained, p. p. of granire, to make grainy.] (Geol.) A crystalline, unstratified rock, consisting of quartz, feldspar, and mica, and presenting usually a whitish, grayish, or flesh-red color. It differs from gneiss in not having the mica in planes, and therefore in being destitute of a schistose structure.

☞ Granite is one of the metamorphic rocks, like gneiss and mica schist. It is also regarded as a true igneous rock. Dana.

Gneissoid granite, granite in which the mica has traces of a regular arrangement. — Graphic granite, granite consisting of quartz and feldspar without mica, and having the particles of quartz so arranged in the feldspar as to appear, in a transverse section, like oriental characters. — Porphyritic granite, granite containing feldspar in distinct crystals. — Syenitic granite, granite containing hornblende as well as mica.