Now rare. Pl. stalactitæ. [mod.L. (Olaus Wormius, a. 1654), f. Gr. σταλακτ-ός dropping, dripping (vbl. adj. f. σταλακ-, σταλάσσειν to let drip, intr. to drip), after names of stones in -ītēs: see -ITE1.] = STALACTITE.
[a. 1654. O. Wormus, Mus., I. II. vi. (1655), 50. De Stalactite, Stalagmite, Osteocolla,… &c. Ad molliorum lapidum classem referimus Stalactitem, Norvegis Berg-drab.]
1681. Grew, Musæum, II. § i. v. 301. The Larger Hollow Stalactites, or Water-Pipe.
1695. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Earth, IV. 202. Sometimes Spar, and other crasser Minerals, are thus mounted up, and … form Stalactitæ, or Sparry Iceycles hanging down from the Arches of the Grotto’s.
1794. R. J. Sulivan, View Nat., I. 421. In caverns and fissures, stalactitæ,… and other substances, crystallize in various forms.
