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volcanic

1. Of or pertaining to a volcano or volcanoes; as, volcanic heat.

2. Produced by a volcano, or, more generally, by igneous agencies; as, volcanic tufa.

3. Changed or affected by the heat of a volcano. Volcanic bomb, a mass ejected from a volcano, often of molten lava having a rounded form. Volcanic cone, a hill, conical in form, built up of cinders, tufa, or lava, during volcanic eruptions. Volcanic foci, the subterranean centers of volcanic action; the points beneath volcanoes where the causes producing volcanic phenomena are most active. Volcanic glass, the vitreous form of lava, produced by sudden cooling; obsidian. See Obsidian. Volcanic mud, fetid, sulphurous mud discharged by a volcano. Volcanic rocks, rocks which have been produced from the discharges of volcanic matter, as the various kinds of basalt, trachyte, scoria, obsidian, etc, whether compact, scoriaceous, or vitreous.

Origin: Cf. F. Volcanique, It. Vulcanico.