litho-, lith-, -lith, -lithic, -lite, -liths, -lites
(Greek: stone, rock; hard consolidated mineral matter; hard matter formed from mineral and earth material; hard substance that is solid)
The study and description of the general, gross physical characteristics of a rock, including its color, structure, texture, grain size, mineral composition, and arrangement of its component parts: Specifically, one kind of lithology is research of the structural aspects of a coal bed and coal texture obtained from the macroscopic and microscopic analysis of coal.
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litholysis
Fragmentation or dissolution of stones in the urinary bladder.
litholyte
An instrument designed to administer stone-dissolving agents directly inside the bladder.
litholytic
Stone-dissolving; tending to dissolve calculi; especially, in the bladder.
Divination with rocks or stone charms of unusual origin or appearance: Lithomancy, a form of fortune-telling, used meteorites, for exampe, which inspired the diviner with visions or produced sounds that he alone could hear and interpreted as words.
lithometeor
Atmospheric phenomena which affect the state of the atmosphere.
They constitute dry particles that hang suspended in the atmosphere, such as dust, smoke, sand, and haze.
lithometer
An instrument for estimating the size of calculi.
lithometry
The process of measuring calculi (stone formations) in the body.
lithonephria
Any renal (kidney) disease due to or related to calculi or "kidney stones".
lithophage, lithophagic, lithophagy
1. Usually a reference to organisms that erode or bore into rocks.
2. Eating small stones, as with some birds.
2. Eating small stones, as with some birds.
Ingestion of stones or rocks.
lithophagous
1. Stone-eating, as birds that take small stones into the gizzard to aid mastication of their food.
2. Rock-burrowing, as some mollusks and sea urchins.
2. Rock-burrowing, as some mollusks and sea urchins.
lithophany
Porcelain impressed with figures which are made distinct by transmitted light, as in a lamp shade.
An element that forms silicates or oxides: A lithophile is concentrated in the minerals of the earth's crust, rather than in the core or mantle.
lithophilous (adjective) (not comparable)
In biology, referring to a form of life that thrives in stony or rocky habitats: Lithophilous plants, like saxifrage and highland the cudweed, usually grow on ledges and crevices in rocky environments.
