pumice
/ˈpʌmɪs
/noun [mass noun]
1A very light and porous volcanic rock formed when a gas-rich froth of glassy lava solidifies rapidly.Coarser fractions additionally contain volcanic clasts of vesicular and porphyritic lava, tuff and pumice....
- These range from skarns resulting from proximity to felsic intrusive igneous activity to altered limestone volcanic ejecta associated with pumice and other pyroclastic materials.
- After that the abuse rained down continually upon the hapless Mr O'Brien, like rocks and pumice from a spluttering volcano.
1.1 (also pumice stone) [count noun] A piece of pumice used as an abrasive, especially for removing hard skin.Use foot file instead of hard pumice stone to remove dead skin which can lead to painful skin irritation....
- This is an ideal opportunity to check your feet for any dry skin; it will be easily removed with a normal pumice stone you can purchase from the chemist.
- ‘If you use a pumice stone to remove calluses, do so gently and just enough to flake off the dead skin,’ Rosenthal warns.
verb [with object]
Rub with pumice to smooth or clean.By ignoring that, you come up with something prettied up, pumiced, and packaged....
- If they're calloused, does she pumice them and slather them in lotion to make them soft and resilient again?
- Shave your legs (if your mom lets you), and pumice the soles of your feet really well, too.
Derivatives
pumiceous
- Pumiceous peperite is associated with a rhyolitic sill that intruded wet, unconsolidated, submarine stratified pumice breccia in the Cambrian Mount Read Volcanics, Australia.
- Pumiceous pyroclastic products are present as flows and falls at several stages of the evolution of the southern Guadeloupe volcanic island.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French pomis, from a Latin dialect variant of pumex, pumic-. Compare with pounce2.