[kahr-buhng-kuh
l] 
| 1. | Pathology. a painful circumscribed inflammation of the subcutaneous tissue, resulting in suppuration and sloughing, and having a tendency to spread somewhat like a boil, but more serious in its effects. |
| 2. | a gemstone, esp. a garnet, cut with a convex back and a cabochon surface. |
| 3. | Also called London brown. a dark grayish, red-brown color. |
| 4. | Obsolete. any rounded red gem. |
| 5. | having the color carbuncle. |
| car·bun·cle (kär'bŭng'kəl) n.
[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin carbunculus, small glowing ember, carbuncle, diminutive of carbō, carbōn-, coal; see ker-3 in Indo-European roots.] car'bun'cled adj., car·bun'cu·lar (-kyə-lər) adj. |
carbuncle car·bun·cle (kär'bŭng'kəl)
n.
A deep-seated pyogenic infection of several contiguous hair follicles, with formation of connecting sinuses, often preceded or accompanied by fever, malaise, and prostration.
See anthrax.
Carbuncle
(Ex. 28:17; 39:10; Ezek. 28:13). Heb. barkath; LXX. smaragdos; Vulgate, smaragdus; Revised Version, marg., "emerald." The Hebrew word is from a root meaning "to glitter," "lighten," "flash." When held up to the sun, this gem shines like a burning coal, a dark-red glowing coal, and hence is called "carbunculus", i.e., a little coal. It was one of the jewels in the first row of the high priest's breastplate. It has been conjectured by some that the garnet is meant. In Isa. 54:12 the Hebrew word is _'ekdah_, used in the prophetic description of the glory and beauty of the mansions above. Next to the diamond it is the hardest and most costly of all precious stones.