A'gate. n.s. [agate, Fr. achates, Lat.] A precious stone of the lowest class, often clouded with beautiful variegations.

In shape no bigger than an agate stone,
On the forefinger of an alderman. Shak. Romeo and Juliet.

Agates are only varieties of the flint kind; they have a grey horny ground, clouded, lineated, or spotted with different colours, chiefly dusky, black, brown, red, and sometimes blue. Woodward's Method of Fossils.