bauxite

noun

1. a rock consisting of aluminum oxides and hydroxides with various impurities: the principal ore of aluminum.

noun

1. a white, red, yellow, or brown amorphous claylike substance comprising aluminium oxides and hydroxides, often with such impurities as iron oxides. It is the chief ore of aluminium. General formula: Al 2 O 3 . n H 2 O

n.

1861, clayey mineral containing aluminum, from French bauxite (1821), from Les Baux, near Soles, where it was first found. The place name is from Provençal Li Baus, literally “the precipices.”

1. A soft, whitish to reddish-brown rock consisting mainly of hydrous aluminum oxides and aluminum hydroxides along with silica, silt, iron hydroxides, and clay minerals. Bauxite forms from the breakdown of clays and is a major source of aluminum.