Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

pumice

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Remove ads

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman and Old French pomis (pumice stone), from Latin pūmex (pumice stone). Doublet of pounce.

Pronunciation

Noun

pumice (countable and uncountable, plural pumices)

  1. A light, porous type of pyroclastic igneous rock, formed during explosive volcanic eruptions when liquid lava is ejected into water or air as a froth containing masses of gas bubbles, which are frozen into the rock as the lava solidifies.
    • 1912, Katherine Mansfield, The Woman at the Store, Oxford World's Classics 2002, page 10:
      The wind blew close to the ground - it rooted among the tussock grass - slithered along the road, so that the white pumice dust swirled in our faces - settled and sifted over us and was like a dry-skin itching for growth on our bodies.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

pumice (third-person singular simple present pumices, present participle pumicing, simple past and past participle pumiced)

  1. (transitive) To abrade or roughen with pumice.

See also

Remove ads

Latin

Noun

pūmice

  1. ablative singular of pūmex

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Remove ads