AMETHYST, in Heraldry, a term for the purple colour in the coat of a nobleman, in use with those who blazon with precious stones instead of metals and colours. This, in a gentleman's escutcheon, is called Purpure; and in those of sovereign princes, Mercury.
AMETHYSTINE is applied, in Antiquity, to a kind of purple garment dyed of the hue of amethyst. In this sense amethystine differed from Tyrian as well as from Lyacinthine purple, being a kind of medium between them.