The Collaborative International Dictionary
Ashes \Ash"es\, n. pl. [OE. asche, aske, AS. asce, [ae]sce, axe; akin to OHG. asca, G. asche, D. asch, Icel. & Sw. aska, Dan. aske, Goth. azgo.]
The earthy or mineral particles of combustible substances remaining after combustion, as of wood or coal.
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Specifically: The remains of the human body when burnt, or when ``returned to dust'' by natural decay.
Their martyred blood and ashes sow.
--Milton.The coffins were broken open. The ashes were scattered to the winds.
--Macaulay. -
The color of ashes; deathlike paleness.
The lip of ashes, and the cheek of flame.
--Byron.In dust and ashes, In sackcloth and ashes, with humble expression of grief or repentance; -- from the method of mourning in Eastern lands.
Volcanic ashes, or Volcanic ash, the loose, earthy matter, or small fragments of stone or lava, ejected by volcanoes.
Usage examples of "volcanic ashes".
We realize this when in Naples we stand musing over the poor Pompeian mother, lost in the historic storm of volcanic ashes eighteen centuries ago, who lies with her child gripped close to her breast, trying to save it, and whose despair and grief have been preserved for us by the fiery envelope which took her life but eternalized her form and features.
Layers of alluvium cover the whole field of the ruins and lacustrine sand mixed with shells from Titicaca, decomposed feldspar and volcanic ashes have accumulated in the places surrounded by walls .