any of a class of substances occurring in nature, usually comprising inorganic substances, as quartz or feldspar, of definite chemical composition and usually of definite crystal structure, but sometimes also including rocks formed by these substances as well as certain natural products of organic origin, as asphalt or coal.
2.
a substance obtained by mining, as ore.
3.
(loosely) any substance that is neither animal nor vegetable.
Nutrition. any of the inorganic elements, as calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, or sodium, that are essential to the functioning of the human body and are obtained from foods.
–adjective
6.
of the nature of a mineral; pertaining to a mineral or minerals.
7.
containing or impregnated with a mineral or minerals.
8.
neither animal nor vegetable; inorganic: mineral matter.
[Origin: 1375–1425; late ME < MF, OF mineral < ML minerāle (n.), minerālis (adj.), equiv. to miner(a) mine, ore (< OF miniere < VL *mināria; min- (see mine2) + L -āria-ary) + -āle, -ālis-al1]
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