| 释义 |
volcanic, a. (and n.)|vɒlˈkænɪk|
Also 8–9 -ick.
[a. F. volcanique (= Sp. and Pg. volcanico), f. volcan volcan n.; or directly f. volcan-o + -ic. Cf. vulcanic a.]
1. Of ashes, etc.: Discharged from, produced or ejected by, a volcano or volcanoes.
1774in G. Forster Voy. round World (1777) I. 591 The country being strewed with volcanic cinders. 1777Ibid. I. 568 Our road was intolerably rugged, over heaps of volcanic stones. 1796Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 402 Of Volcanic Scoriæ... Their texture cavernous,..but never fibrous. Ibid. 410 Of Volcanic Ashes, Sand, Pouzzolana [sic], Trass, Tufa, and Piperino. 1832Lyell Princ. Geol. (1835) II. 243 This volcanic dust when it fell was an impalpable powder. 1841W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. I. 19 The winds and the birds clothe its volcanic soil with vegetation. 1877Huxley Physiogr. xii. 191 In some cases, the lava is broken into such fine particles that it is known as volcanic dust or sand.
b. Used spec. with names of rocks, minerals, etc.
1811–Volcanic tufa, tuff [see tufa 1 b, tuff 1 b]. 1815Aikin Min. (ed. 2) 99 Volcanic or Specular Iron occurs in very compressed and irregular crystals. 1850Ansted Elem. Geol., Min. etc. §413 Pumice or Volcanic-ash, is a light spongy modification of obsidian. 1852Brande Dict. Sci. (ed. 2) App. 1421 Vulcanite, a mineralogical synonym of the pyroxene, or volcanic garnet. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits xiii. Religion Wks. (Bohn) II. 96 As volcanic basalts show the work of fire which has been extinguished for ages. 1867Bloxam Chem. 267 The ammonia which is evolved from the Tuscan boracic acid employed in this process is known in commerce as Volcanic ammonia. 1868Watts Dict. Chem. V. 528 Sulphur..occurs native,..in opaque, lemon⁓yellow, crystalline masses (volcanic sulphur).
c. volcanic bombs, volcanic glass (see quots.).
1798R. Jameson Mineral. Shetl. Isl. etc. 56 Any appearance of..what the Volcanists call volcanic bombs. 1833Lyell Princ. Geol. III. Gloss. 83 Volcanic Bombs, volcanos throw out sometimes detached masses of melted lava, which, as they fall, assume rounded forms (like bomb-shells), and are often elongated into a pear shape. c1840Encycl. Metrop. (1845) VI. 527/2 Volcanic Glass. Obsidian. 1850Ansted Elem. Geol., Min. etc. §413 Obsidian or Volcanic-glass..is also a well-known volcanic product.
d. n. pl. Rocks due to volcanic action.
1894Cosmopolitan XVII. 128 These volcanics..in most cases..have been subjected to deforming pressures which have converted them into schists.
2. Due to or caused by a volcano or volcanoes.
1776Sir W. Hamilton Campi Phlegræi 11 Many Islands..whose Volcanick origin seems to be evidently pointed out. c1790Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) VI. 286/1 Six days after the immense volcanic eruption in Iceland had ceased. 1817Lady Morgan France viii. (1818) II. 347 The cause of those volcanic shocks, which finally overwhelm the island Atlantis. 1833N. Arnott Physics (ed. 5) II. 135 Examining its structure as exposed to view by volcanic or other convulsions. 1876Page Adv. Text-bk. Geol. xvi. 304 Thought by some geologists to be of volcanic origin.
b. Of or pertaining to a volcano or volcanoes.
1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVIII. 687/1 To account for the volcanic fire, Dr. Woodward and others have had recourse to the hypothesis of a central fire. 1828–32Webster s.v., Volcanic heat. 1833Lyell Princ. Geol. III. 362 That great masses of subterranean lava in the volcanic foci may remain in a red hot or incandescent state. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits x. Wealth Wks. II. 72 Steam..vies with the volcanic forces which twisted the strata. 1877Huxley Physiogr. 189 At the mouth of the volcanic pipe, there is usually a funnel-shaped opening known as the crater.
c. Relating to volcanoes.
1828Duppa Trav. Italy, etc. 94 Vesuvius..makes a great feature in volcanic history.
3. Characterized by the presence of volcanoes; composed of volcanoes; consisting of materials produced by igneous action.
c1789Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) IV. 461/1 That species of ore..is to be met with only in volcanic countries. 1794R. J. Sulivan View Nat. II. 171 In America, particularly the Southern America, what a volcanic chain!..with Cotopaxi for its principal link. 1832H. T. De la Beche Geol. Man. (ed. 2) 19 Hot springs are common to the volcanic districts of different parts of the world. 1837W. Irving Capt. Bonneville II. 80 A volcanic tract of similar character is found on Stinking river. 1855Orr's Circ. Sci., Inorg. Nat. 180 The lava itself is seen where it has burst through the sides of volcanic hills.
b. Of the nature of a volcano.
1833–4Encycl. Metrop. (1845) VI. 740/1 Constitution of a Volcanic Mountain in General. 1872Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 235 The great volcanic vent of the last-mentioned mountain.
4. fig. Resembling or characteristic of a volcano, or the attributes of this; violently explosive, or latently capable of sudden and violent activity.
a1854H. Reed Lect. Eng. Lit. iii. (1855) 96 The revolutions were not sudden, devastating, volcanic eruptions. 1862‘Shirley’ (J. Skelton) Nugæ Crit. ix. 407 The military despotism of Napoleon was a volcanic power, which..perpetually threatened the tranquillity of Europe. 1882J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. II. 486 His [sc. Charles I's] gentleness and love of peace were ill-fitted for the volcanic age in which his lot was cast.
b. Of the mind, passions, etc.: Intensely fervid or violent; full of latent or suppressed violence. Also occas. of persons.
1807D'Israeli Cur. Lit. (ed. 5) II. 71 His volcanic head flamed with imagination. 1870Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. xxxix. 3 His volcanic soul was tossed with an inward ocean of fire. 1872Liddon Elem. Relig. i. 4 The tremendous force of the volcanic passions latent in human nature. 1883Harper's Mag. July 243/2 Besant. But Hugo reaches as high and goes as deep as anybody... Spencer. But isn't he rather—rather volcanic.
5. = volcanean a. rare—1.
1793[Earl Dundonald] Descr. Estate Culross 31 It is a field well worth being explored by a volcanic Mineralist.
6. Comb., as volcanic-like, volcanic-looking adjs.
1800Leyden Tour Highlands (1903) 132 The red conical top of the volcanic-like hill. 1854A. R. Wallace in My Life (1905) I. xx. 335 A coarse, volcanic-looking gravel.
Hence volcanico-, combining form, in the sense ‘volcanic and―’, as in volcanico-marine adj.
1822J. Parkinson Outl. Oryctol. 260 The Brecciæ of Nice, the volcanico-marine valley, as it is called by St. Fond. |