volcanic glass

noun

: natural glass produced by the cooling of molten lava too rapidly to permit crystallization

Examples of volcanic glass in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Pele's hair—strands of volcanic glass produced by lava fountains and carried by the wind—is another hazard associated with eruptions at Kīlauea. John Yoo and John Shu, Newsweek, 23 Jan. 2025 The ancient Roman city of Pompeii was buried under ash and volcanic glass during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD and, since the 1700s, archaeologists have been unearthing the city that’s been frozen in time in a large, ongoing excavation. Amarachi Orie, CNN, 17 Jan. 2025 Material found at the Ness, such as glossy volcanic glass from the island of Arran, hint at social and trade links with Scotland’s west coast, but the connections go much farther. Peter Ross, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 Jan. 2025 But recent moon missions and moon analyses indicate that water molecules are spread throughout the moon’s surface, frozen and unfrozen, mixed into the soil, stashed inside volcanic glasses and mineral grains, and concentrated in minuscule granules. Sam Walters, Discover Magazine, 25 Dec. 2024 See all Example Sentences for volcanic glass 

Word History

First Known Use

1780, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of volcanic glass was in 1780

Dictionary Entries Near volcanic glass

Cite this Entry

“Volcanic glass.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/volcanic%20glass. Accessed 1 Feb. 2025.

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