Crossword clues for stalagmite
stalagmite
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Stalagmite \Sta*lag"mite\ (st[.a]*l[a^]g"m[imac]t), n. [Gr. sta`lagma that which drops, a drop, fr. stala`zein to drop: cf. F. stalagmite.] (Geol.) A deposit more or less resembling an inverted stalactite, formed by calcareous water dropping on the floors of caverns; hence, a similar deposit of other material.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
cone-shaped formation of carbonate of lime on the floor of a cave, 1680s, from Modern Latin stalagmites (1650s, Olaus Wormius), from Greek stalagmos "a dropping," or stalagma "a drop, drip, that which drops," from stalassein "to trickle" (see stalactite). Related: Stalagmitic; stalagmitical.
Wiktionary
n. (context geology English) A mineral deposit of calcium carbonate, in shapes similar to icicles, that lie on the ground of a cave.
WordNet
n. a cylinder of calcium carbonate projecting upward from the floor of a limestone cave
Wikipedia
A stalagmite ( or ; from the Greek - , from - , "dropping, trickling") is a type of rock formation that rises from the floor of a cave due to the accumulation of material deposited on the floor from ceiling drippings. Stalagmites may be composed of amberat, lava, minerals, mud, peat, pitch, sand, and sinter.
The corresponding formation hanging down from the ceiling of a cave is a stalactite. Mnemonics have been developed for which word refers to which type of formation; one is that stalactite has a C for "ceiling", and stalagmite has a G for "ground".
Usage examples of "stalagmite".
They had been swimming through a long, tubular chamber filled with stalactites and stalagmites that jutted from above and below and threatened to snag them as they were pulled along by their hydromagnetic drives.
The fellow I spoke to as we waited in line for lunch mentioned a uranium series date on the stalagmite layer above artifacts at Sandia Cave that was very upsetting to himit disagreed violently with the commonly held hypothesis for the date of entry of man into the New World.
Stalagmites squatted like gargoyles on the cave floor while tubular stalactites hung overhead, twisting in serpentine fashion.
Along the sides of the cavern, stalactites dripped from the ceiling and stalagmites rose up from the floor like a forest of spears.
The ceiling soared two hundred feet above her, and stalagmites rose up from the floor like some petrified forest, while stalactites hung down like giant teeth.
Needles was a long, narrow cavern filled with sharp-tipped stalactites and stalagmites.
It was worst in the spots where the stalactites hung low over the stalagmites.
More bulbs, placed between the stalagmites, threw grotesque shadows against the cavern walls.
When no more questions were forthcoming, she turned and led the way through the forest of stalagmites and into a low, narrow passageway leading to the next cavern.
After a long descent, the staircase gave onto a wooden boardwalk that disappeared between stalagmites and stalactites.
A forest of stalagmites, like jagged, giant spears, rose on both sides.
But this space had none of the vastness or majesty of the earlier caverns, just a few stubbly stalagmites rising from the rough uneven floor.
Then she emerged into a larger cavern, filled from floor to ceiling with thickly-tiered stalagmites, many joined with the stalactites overhead to form strange yellow and white pillars.
Here and there, the growth rose from the floor in glassy humps and soaring pillars, where stalagmites had formed.
Titanic stalagmites rose here and there from the rocky floor to approach and sometimes to join with stalactites descending from above.