balas-ruby

See also: balas ruby

English

balas-ruby (plural balas-rubies)

A rose-coloured spinel once thought to be a type of ruby.
- 1888, Rudyard Kipling, “The Bisara of Pooree”, in Plain Tales from the Hills, Folio Society, published 2005, page 171:
  In shape it is a tiny square box of silver, studded outside with eight small balas-rubies.
- 1890, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Vintage, published 2007, page 120:
  Richard II had a coat, valued at thirty thousand marks, which was covered with balas rubies.

variety of ruby