Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Geology Porous cinderlike fragments of dark lava.
  • noun Metallurgy The refuse of a smelted metal or ore; slag.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Dross; cinder; slag: a word of rather variable and indefinite meaning, generally used in the plural, and with reference to volcanic rocks. See scoriaceous.
  • noun A genus of geometrid moths, containing such as the black-veined moth, S. dealbata.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The recrement of metals in fusion, or the slag rejected after the reduction of metallic ores; dross.
  • noun Cellular slaggy lava; volcanic cinders.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the scum formed by oxidation at the surface of molten metals

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, dross, from Latin scōria, from Greek skōriā, from skōr, excrement, dung; see sker- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin scōria, from Ancient Greek σκωρία, from σκῶρ ("dung").

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Examples

  • From the observatory, where His Majesty's faithful servant still remains, come telegrams that the great pebbles -- what we call scoria -- have ruined

    Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad 1887

  • Porcellanite (also called scoria or clinker) forms from the natural burning of coal beds; it caps the hills with distinctive red-orange rock.

    Ecoregions of Wyoming (EPA) 2009

  • There are tracts of these which are in part or wholly of volcanic origin; then the hills are called scoria buttes.

    V. The Black-Tail Deer 1885

  • The eruption opened a 2,000ft fissure, and also produced lava fountains that built several hills of bubble-filled lava rocks, called scoria, along the vent.

    Signs of the Times 2010

  • But I was on a bladed road which the gas companies have recently covered with what they call "scoria".

    grouse Diary Entry grouse 2007

  • No, what the gas companies call "scoria" is basically crushed rock that is not crushed as fine as gravel.

    grouse Diary Entry grouse 2007

  • In the majority of cases the lavas consist of a mass of crystals floating in a liquid magma, and the distension of such a mass by the escape of steam from its midst gives rise to the formation of the rough cindery-looking material to which the name of "scoria" is applied.

    The San Francisco calamity by earthquake and fire Charles Morris 1877

  • Eroded buttes, Hell Creek badlands, scoria (burnt coal) mounds, and salt pans punctuate a thick mat of shortgrass prairie and dusky gray sagebrush.

    Ecoregions of North Dakota and South Dakota (EPA) 2009

  • It was a shield volcano of thin basaltic flows interleaved with ash and scoria overlaid in places by later volcanic domes, plugs and dykes.

    Gough Island Wildlife Reserve, United Kingdom 2008

  • The interstratified basalt lava, scoria and pyroclastic rocks yield sand, clayey soils in depressions, on plains and on outward draining slopes and a sterile cemented hardpan surface where hydrated.

    Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California, Mexico 2008

Comments

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  • Citation on scraggy.

    July 23, 2008