a. (and sb.). Also 8–9 -ick. [a. F. volcanique (= Sp. and Pg. volcanico), f. volcan VOLCAN sb.; or directly f. VOLCAN-O + -IC. Cf. VULCANIC a.]
1. Of ashes, etc.: Discharged from, produced or ejected by, a volcano or volcanoes.
1774. in G. Forster, Voy. round World (1777), I. 591. The country being strewed with volcanic cinders. Ibid. (1777), I. 568. Our road was intolerably rugged, over heaps of volcanic stones.
1796. Kirwan, Elem. Min. (ed. 2), I. 402. Of Volcanic Scoriæ…. Their texture cavernous,… but never fibrous. Ibid., 410. Of Volcanic Ashes, Sand, Pouzzolana [sic], Trass, Tufa, and Piperino.
1832. Lyell, Princ. Geol. (1835), II. 243. This volcanic dust when it fell was an impalpable powder.
1841. W. Spalding, Italy & It. Isl., I. 19. The winds and the birds clothe its volcanic soil with vegetation.
1877. Huxley, Physiogr., xii. 191. In some cases, the lava is broken into such fine particles that it is known as volcanic dust or sand.
b. Used spec. with names of rocks, minerals, etc.
1815. Aikin, Min. (ed. 2), 99. Volcanic or Specular Iron occurs in very compressed and irregular crystals.
1850. Ansted, Elem. Geol., Min., etc., § 413. Pumice or Volcanic-ash, is a light spongy modification of obsidian.
1852. Brande, Dict. Sci. (ed. 2), App. 1421. Vulcanite, a mineralogical synonym of the pyroxene, or volcanic garnet.
1856. Emerson, Eng. Traits, xiii. Religion, Wks. (Bohn), II. 96. As volcanic basalts show the work of fire which has been extinguished for ages.
1867. Bloxam, Chem., 267. The ammonia which is evolved from the Tuscan boracic acid employed in this process is known in commerce as Volcanic ammonia.
1868. Watts, Dict. Chem., V. 528. Sulphur … occurs native,… in opaque, lemon-yellow, crystalline masses (volcanic sulphur).
c. Volcanic bombs, glass (see quots.).
1798. R. Jameson, Mineral. Shetl. Isl., etc. 56. Any appearance of … what the Volcanists call volcanic bombs.
1833. Lyell, Princ. Geol., III. Gloss. 83. Volcanic Bombs, volcanos throw out sometimes detached masses of melted lava, which, as they fall, assume rounded forms (like bomb-shells), and are often elongated into a pear shape.
c. 1840. Encycl. Metrop. (1845), VI. 527/2. Volcanic Glass. Obsidian.
1850. Ansted, Elem. Geol., Min., etc., § 413. Obsidian or Volcanic-glass … is also a well-known volcanic product.
d. sb. pl. Rocks due to volcanic action.
1894. Cosmopolitan, XVII. 128. These volcanics … in most cases … have been subjected to deforming pressures which have converted them into schists.
2. Due to or caused by a volcano or volcanoes.
1776. Sir W. Hamilton, Campi Phlegræi, 11. Many Islands … whose Volcanick origin seems to be evidently pointed out.
c. 1790. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), VI. 286/1. Six days after the immense volcanic eruption in Iceland had ceased.
1817. Lady Morgan, France, VIII. (1818), II. 347. The cause of those volcanic shocks, which finally overwhelm the island Atlantis.
1833. N. Arnott, Physics (ed. 5), II. 135. Examining its structure as exposed to view by volcanic or other convulsions.
1876. Page, Adv. Text-bk. Geol., xvi. 304. Thought by some geologists to be of volcanic origin.
b. Of or pertaining to a volcano or volcanoes.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XVIII. 687/1. To account for the volcanic fire, Dr. Woodward and others have had recourse to the hypothesis of a central fire.
1828–32. Webster s.v., Volcanic heat.
1833. Lyell, Princ. Geol., III. 362. That great masses of subterranean lava in the volcanic foci may remain in a red hot or incandescent state.
1856. Emerson, Eng. Traits, x. Wealth, Wks. II. 72. Steam … vies with the volcanic forces which twisted the strata.
1877. Huxley, Physiogr., 189. At the mouth of the volcanic pipe, there is usually a funnel-shaped opening known as the crater.
c. Relating to volcanoes.
1828. Duppa, Trav. Italy, etc. 94. Vesuvius … makes a great feature in volcanic history.
3. Characterized by the presence of volcanoes; composed of volcanoes; consisting of materials produced by igneous action.
c. 1789. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), IV. 461/1. That species of ore … is to be met with only in volcanic countries.
1794. R. J. Sulivan, View Nat., II. 171. In America, particularly the Southern America, what a volcanic chain!… with Cotopaxi for its principal link.
1832. De la Beche, Geol. Man. (ed. 2), 19. Hot Springs are common to the volcanic districts of different parts of the world.
1837. W. Irving, Capt. Bonneville, II. vi. 80. A volcanic tract of similar character is found on Stinking river.
1855. Orr’s Circ. Sci., Inorg. Nat., 18. The lava itself is seen where it has burst through the sides of volcanic hills.
b. Of the nature of a volcano.
1833–4. Encycl. Metrop. (1845), VI. 740/1. Constitution of a Volcanic Mountain in General.
1872. Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 135. The great volcanic vent of the last-mentioned mountain.
4. fig. Resembling or characteristic of a volcano, or the attributes of this; violently explosive, or latently capable of sudden and violent activity.
a. 1854. H. Reed, Lect. Eng. Lit., iii. (1855), 96. The revolutions were not sudden, devastating, volcanic eruptions.
1862. ‘Shirley’ (J. Skelton), Nugæ Crit., ix. 407. The military despotism of Napoleon was a volcanic power, which … perpetually threatened the tranquillity of Europe.
1882. J. H. Blunt. Ref. Ch. Eng., II. 486. His [sc. Charles I.’s] gentleness and love of peace were ill-fitted for the volcanic age in which his lot was cast.
b. Of the mind, passions, etc.: Intensely fervid or violent; full of latent or suppressed violence. Also occas. of persons.
1807. D’Israeli, Cur. Lit. (ed. 5), II. 71. His volcanic head flamed with imagination.
1870. Spurgeon, Treas. Dav., Ps. xxxix. 3. His volcanic soul was tossed with an inward ocean of fire.
1872. Liddon, Elem. Relig., i. 4. The tremendous force of the volcanic passions latent in human nature.
1883. Harper’s Mag., July, 243/2. Besant. But Hugo reaches as high and goes as deep as anybody…. Spencer. But isn’t he rather—rather volcanic.
5. = VOLCANEAN a. rare–1.
1793. [Earl Dundonald], Descr. Estate Culross, 31. It is a field well worth being explored by a volcanic Mineralist.
6. Comb., as volcanic-like, -looking adjs.
1800. Leyden, Tour Highlands (1903), 132. The red conical top of the volcanic-like hill.
1854. A. R. Wallace, in My Life (1905), I. xx. 335. A coarse, volcanic-looking gravel.
Hence Volcanico-, combining form, in the sense ‘volcanic and —,’ as in volcanico-marine adj.
1822. J. Parkinson, Outl. Oryctol., 260. The Brecciæ of Nice, the volcanico-marine valley, as it is called by St. Fond.
