LAVA

lava

(noun) rock that in its molten form (as magma) issues from volcanos; lava is what magma is called when it reaches the surface

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

lava (countable and uncountable, plural lavas)

The molten rock ejected by a volcano from its crater or fissured sides.

(informal, proscribed) Magma.

A shade of red, named after the volcanic lava.

Usage notes

Geologists make a distinction between magma (molten rock underground) and lava (molten rock on the surface).

Anagrams

• Alva, aval

Proper noun

Lava

(Hinduism) One of the twin children of the Lord Rāma and his wife Sita in the Ramayana.

Anagrams

• Alva, aval

Source: Wiktionary


La"va, n. Etym: [It. lava lava, orig. in Naples, a torrent of rain overflowing the streets, fr. It. & L. lavare to wash. See Lave.]

Definition: The melted rock ejected by a volcano from its top or fissured sides. It flows out in streams sometimes miles in length. It also issues from fissures in the earth's surface, and forms beds covering many square miles, as in the Northwestern United States.

Note: Lavas are classed, according to their structure, as scoriaceous or cellular, glassy, stony, etc., and according to the material of which they consist, as doleritic, trachytic, etc. Lava millstone, a hard and coarse basaltic millstone from the neighborhood of the Rhine.

– Lava ware, a kind of cheap pottery made of iron slag cast into tiles, urns, table tops, etc., resembling lava in appearance.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Coffee Trivia

Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.

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