pumice
/ˈpʌm.ɪs/ noun, verb
Forms pumices pumicing pumiced
- noun 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.
- verb (transitive) To abrade or roughen with pumice.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Anglo-Norman and Old French pomis (“pumice stone”), from Latin pūmex (“pumice stone”). Doublet of pounce.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A very light porous volcanic scoria, usually of a gray color, the pores of which are capillary and parallel, giving it a fibrous structure. It is supposed to be produced by the disengagement of watery vapor without liquid or plastic lava. It is much used, esp. in the form of powder, for smoothing and polishing. Called also pumice stone.
Etymology [L. pumex, pumicis, prob. akin to spuma foam: cf. AS. pumic-stan. Cf. Pounce a powder, Spume.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “pumice”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details