What the Heck is "Lapidary Prose Style"?

In a review of What's Not to Love?:  The Adventures of a Mildly Perverted Young Writer by Jonathan Ames, we find "[Ames's] lapidary prose style rapidly seduces the reader into taking his pleasures with him . ." The New York Times Book Review

In a review of John Barth's The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor we find "There are rich rewards. Chief among them is a lapidary prose style that out-Nabokovs Nabokov." Chicago Tribune

In a recent Washington Post book section, see "A Literary Life", we once again encounter the phrase "he wasted the finest lapidary prose style of his generation on weekly book reviewing".

So what the heck is it?

Wordsmyth gives us perspective on the term. As a noun, lapidary means: 1) one whose work is to cut, polish, or engrave gemstones, or the work itself; or, 2) an expert on or dealer in gemstones. As an adjective: 1) of or pertaining to gemstones or the cutting and polishing of them; 2) of or pertaining to inscriptions, or words fit to be inscribed, in stone; or, 3) marked by exactness and refinement.

And, yes, Mr. Nabokov is considered the master of it.

Vladimir Nabokov with butterfly