pumice

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a very light, porous volcanic glass formed when gas-rich lava cools rapidly

   A piece of pumice floated briefly before the water filled its pores.

2. 2
   verb

   to rub or polish a surface with pumice

   The conservator will pumice the repaired plaster only after it has dried.

From Middle English pomis, through Anglo-French pomice, from Latin pumex 'pumice'. The Latin word is related to spuma 'foam', an apt comparison for the rock's frothy mass of gas cavities.

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