1. a precious stone mentioned in ancient texts, possibly jacinth or amber
Usage: archaic; biblical

Examples

• The high priest’s breastplate was adorned with a ligure among other precious stones.
• Ancient texts describe the ligure as having a golden hue.
• Scholars debate whether the biblical ligure was actually amber or jacinth.
• The ligure was one of twelve stones set in the sacred breastplate.
• Modern translations often render ligure as jacinth or amber.