[a. Fr. amphibole, 1. adj. ‘ambiguous, of a double sense’ (Cotgr., 1611). 2. the mineral; ad. L. amphibol-um ambiguous, a. Gr. ἀμφίβολ-ον thrown or hitting on both sides, ambiguous, f. ἀμφί on both sides + βολ-, βαλ- stem of βάλλ-ειν to throw.]
† 1. An ambiguity; = AMPHIBOLY. Obs.
1606. Holland, Suetonius, Notes 34. There is not onely an Homonyme in the word … but an Ampibole also in the sentence.
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., II. i. § 6. 48. Æquivocation, Ambiguous, Amphibole.
2. A mineral, hornblende. So named by Haüy 1801, in allusion to the protean variety in composition and appearance, assumed by the mineral genus to which he gave the name, and which Dana takes as the type of his first group of Bisilicates, including under it many species and varieties, as Actinolite, Asbestos, Hornblende, Tremolite, etc.
1833. Lyell, Elem. Geol. (1865), 592. Amphibole is a general term under which hornblende and actinolite may be united.
1868. Dana, Min., 233. The varieties of amphibole are as numerous as those of pyroxene.
1869. Phillips, Vesuv., x. 296. Hornblende, or Amphibole in ejected blocks and scoriæ on Somma and Vesuvius.
