tufa
/ˈt(j)uːfə
/noun [mass noun]
1A porous rock composed of calcium carbonate and formed by precipitation from water, e.g. around mineral springs.Among the 30 different types of stone recognized are varieties of diorite, granite, bedded tuff, sandstones, limestones, and tufa....
- It's an otherworldly site, fringed with dunes and studded with bone-white calcium carbonate spires called tufa towers.
- It is perched on a plateau of tufa rock, almost like it's been carved straight from its roots.
1.1 another term for tuff.Contemporary Armenian architecture has followed the basic characteristics of its historical architectural tradition: simplicity, reliance on locally available geological material, and the use of volcanic tufa for facings....
- Local building materials, such as the volcanic tufa, did not lend themselves to the structural complexities of French gothic vaults, and, like most gothic churches in Italy, these were relatively simple.
- The unmatching plates and bowls include some made of stone or tufa.
Derivatives
tufaceous
- It was and still is a very little town, built on a tufaceous rock and accessible only from one point.
- These deposits, which are associated with mineral springs, are doubtless more or less tufaceous in character.
- The lower limestone is impure and tufaceous, but similar in texture to the typical Oamaru building-stone.
Origin
Late 18th century: from Italian, variant of tufo (see tuff).
Rhymes
- newspaperism
- newspaperist
- newspaperized
- newspaperland
- newspaperless
- newspaperly
- newspaperman
- newspaper office
- newspaper stamp
- newspaper stamp duty
- newspaperwoman
- newspapery
- newspeak
- news peg
- newspeople
- news photographer
- newsprint
- new-sprung
- newsreader
- newsreading
- newsreel
- news release
- newsroom
- newsserver
- news service