Ultramarine \Ul`tra*ma*rine"\, n. [Cf. Sp. ultramarino. So
called because the lapis lazuli was originally brought from
beyond the sea, -- from Asia.]
(Chem.)
A blue pigment formerly obtained by powdering lapis lazuli,
but now produced in large quantities by fusing together
silica, alumina, soda, and sulphur, thus forming a glass,
colored blue by the sodium polysulphides made in the fusion.
Also used adjectively.
Green ultramarine, a green pigment obtained as a first
product in the manufacture of ultramarine, into which it
is changed by subsequent treatment.
Ultramarine ash or ashes (Paint.), a pigment which is the
residuum of lapis lazuli after the ultramarine has been
extracted. It was used by the old masters as a middle or
neutral tint for flesh, skies, and draperies, being of a
purer and tenderer gray that produced by the mixture of
more positive colors. --Fairholt.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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