pumice

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“
"The soul of the righteous is white and smooth as chalk; and the soul of the sinner is as a pumice-stone.

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Definitions (8)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A light, porous, glassy lava, used in solid form as an abrasive and in powdered form as a polish and an abrasive.
  2. transitive verb To clean, polish, or smooth with pumice.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (3)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • As I walked along I observed that the island was composed of white porous pumice-stone, without the least symptoms of vegetation; not even a piece of moss could I discover--nothing but the bare pumice-stone, with thousands of beautiful green lizards, about ten inches long, playing about in every part. —  The Pacha of Many Tales
  • Do you not observe that there is no mould; that the island is composed entirely of pumice-stone I do," replied I. —  The Pacha of Many Tales
  • Vegetation there was none: the surface of the ground was composed of ashes of pumice, with cascades of black stones, while far below us floated a vast level plain of mist. —  My First Voyage to Southern Seas
  • Scorias, in a state of dust, like powdered pumice-stone, and greyish ashes as small as the finest feculae, were held in suspension in the midst of their thick folds. —  The Secret of the Island
  • "This powdered pumice-stone, all this mineral dust, proves how grave is the convulsion going forward in the lower depths of the volcano But can nothing be done Nothing, except to note the progress of the phenomenon. —  The Secret of the Island
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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Anglo-Norman pomis, from Late Latin pōmex, from Latin pūmex, alteration of spūma, foam.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Early modern English also pumish, also pumey, pumie(-stone); from Middle English pomyce, pomys, pomeys. pomayse, pomege, from Old French *pomice (?), vernacularly ponce (later English pounce) = Spanish pómez = Portuguese pomes = Italian pomice = Anglo-Saxon pumic(stān) = Dutch puim(steen) = Old High German bumez, Middle High German bumez, bimz, German bims, bims(stein) = Swedish pim(sten) = Danish pimp(sten), pumice, from Latin pumex (pumic-), pumice-stone, any light porous stone; perhaps orig. *spumex, from spuma, foam: see spume. Cf. doublet pounce.
  2. from pumice, n.
 

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/ˈpəmɪs/
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