lapillus

American  

[luh-pil-uhs] / ləˈpɪl əs /

noun

plural

lapilli

1. a small stony particle ejected from a volcano.

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lapillus British  

/ ləˈpɪləs /

noun

1. a small piece of lava thrown from a volcano

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lapillus Scientific  

/ lə-pĭl′əs /

plural

lapilli

1. A small fragment of lava, between 2 and 64 mm in size, blown out from a volcano.

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Etymology

Origin of lapillus

1740–50; < Latin: little stone, pebble, diminutive of lapis stone

Example Sentences

The following marine shells occur mixed with the freshwater species above enumerated:—Buccinum undatum, Littorina littorea, Nassa reticulata, Purpura lapillus, Tellina solidula, Cardium edule, and fragments of some others.

From The Antiquity of Man by Lyell, Charles, Sir

In the common British Purpura lapillus they resemble delicate pink grains of rice set on stalks; in Busycon they are disk-shaped, and attached to a band nearly 3 ft. long.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 1 "Edwardes" to "Ehrenbreitstein" by Various

Thus:— agellus, field, for ager-lus; lapillus, pebble, for lapid-lus.

From New Latin Grammar by Bennett, Charles E. (Charles Edwin)

The four are the Buccinum lapillus of Pliny,285 which is the Purpura lapillus of modern naturalists; the Murex trunculus; the Murex brandaris; and the Helix ianthina.

From History of Phoenicia by Rawlinson, George

Among the univalves I can distinguish Dentalium entale, Purpura lapillus, Turritella terebra, and Littorina littorea, all existing shells, but all common also to at least the later deposits of the Crag.

From The Cruise of the Betsey or, A Summer Ramble Among the Fossiliferous Deposits of the Hebrides. With Rambles of a Geologist or, Ten Thousand Miles Over the Fossiliferous Deposits of Scotland by Symonds, W. S. (William Samuel)