Volcanic \Vol*can"ic\, a. [Cf. F. volcanique, It. vulcanico.] 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.

Bomb \Bomb\, n. [F. bombe bombshell, fr. L. bombus a humming or buzzing noise, Gr. ?.] 1. A great noise; a hollow sound. [Obs.] A pillar of iron . . . which if you had struck, would make . . . a great bomb in the chamber beneath. --Bacon. 2. (Mil.) A shell; esp. a spherical shell, like those fired from mortars. See Shell. 3. A bomb ketch. Bomb chest (Mil.), a chest filled with bombs, or only with gunpowder, placed under ground, to cause destruction by its explosion. Bomb ketch, Bomb vessel (Naut.), a small ketch or vessel, very strongly built, on which mortars are mounted to be used in naval bombardments; -- called also mortar vessel}. Bomb lance, a lance or harpoon with an explosive head, used in whale fishing. Volcanic bomb, a mass of lava of a spherical or pear shape. ``I noticed volcanic bombs.'' --Darwin.

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