[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

opal \o"pal\, n. l. opalus: cf. gr. ?, skr. upala a rock,
   stone, precious stone: cf. f. opale. min.
   a mineral consisting, like quartz, of silica, but inferior to
   quartz in hardness and specific gravity.
   1913 webster

   note: the precious opal presents a peculiar play of colors
         of delicate tints, and is highly esteemed as a gem. one
         kind, with a varied play of color in a reddish ground,
         is called the harlequin opal. the fire opal has
         colors like the red and yellow of flame. common opal
         has a milky appearance. menilite is a brown impure
         variety, occurring in concretions at menilmontant, near
         paris. other varieties are cacholong, girasol,
         hyalite, and geyserite.
         1913 webster
see also:
precious opal harlequin opal fire opal common opal menilite cacholong 
girasol hyalite geyserite 

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

opal
     n : a translucent mineral consisting of hydrated silica of
         variable color; some varieties are used as gemstones

[3] : The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)

opal
     
        1. a dsp language.
     
        "opal: a high level language and environment for dsp boards
        on pc", j.p. schwartz et al, proc icassp-89, 1989.
     
        2. the language of the object-oriented database gemstone.
     
        "making smalltalk a database system", g. copeland et al, proc
        sigmod'84, acm 1984, pp.316- 325.
     
        3. a simulation language with provision for stochastic
        variables.  an extension of autostat.
     
        "c-e-i-r opal", d. pilling, internal report,
        c.e.i.r. ltd. 1963.
     
        4. a language for compiler testing said to be used internally
        by dec.
     
        5. a functional programming language designed at the
        technische universitaet berlin as a testbed for the
        development of functional programs.  opal integrates
        concepts from algebraic specification and functional
        programming, which favour the formal development of large
        production-quality software written in a purely functional
        style.
     
        the core of opal is a strongly typed, higher-order,
        strict applicative language which belongs to the tradition
        of hope and ml.  the algebraic flavour of opal is visible
        in the syntactical appearance and in the preference of
        parameterisation to polymorphism.
     
        opal supports: information hiding - each language unit is
        divided into an interface signature and an implementation
        part; selective import; parameterised modules; free
        constructor views on sorts, which allow pattern-based
        function definitions despite quite different implementations;
        full overloading of names; puristic scheme language with no
        built-in data types except booleans and denotations.
     
        opal and its predecessor opal-0 have been used for some time
        at the technische universitaet berlin in cs courses and for
        research into optimising compilers for applicative languages.
        the opal compiler itself is writte entirely in opal.
     
        an overview is given in "opal: design and implementation of an
        algebraic programming language".
     
        home http://www.cs.tu-berlin.de/~opal/.
     
       
     ftp://ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de/pub/local/uebb/papers/designimplopal.ps.gz.
     
        1995-02-16
     
     
see also:
dsp object-oriented database gemstone simulation stochastic variable autostat 
dec functional programming technische universitaet berlin functional program purely functional 
strongly typed higher-order strict hope ml 
parameterisation polymorphism information hiding parameterised module views 
sorts overloading built-in boolean lt;homegt; lt;ftp://ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de/pub/local/uebb/papers/designimplopal.ps.gzgt; 

[4] : U.S. Gazetteer (1990)

opal, sd
  zip codes: 57765
opal, wy town, fips 57810
  location: 41.76996 n, 110.32082 w
  population 1990: 95 54 housing units
  area: 1.1 sq km land, 0.0 sq km water

[5] : U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000)

opal, wy -- u.s. town in wyoming
   population 2000:    102
   housing units 2000: 48
   land area 2000:     0.430749 sq. miles 1.115636 sq. km
   water area 2000:    0.000000 sq. miles 0.000000 sq. km
   total area 2000:    0.430749 sq. miles 1.115636 sq. km
   fips code:            57810
   located within:       wyoming wy, fips 56
   location:             41.770449 n, 110.325918 w
   zip codes 1990:    
   note: some zip codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
   headwords:
    opal, wy
    opal

Opal >> O Words
Opal, definition of term: Opal
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