Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Thin strands of volcanic glass that form when lava ejected from a volcano is spun out and stretched by the wind.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The name given in the Hawaiian Islands to lava which, while fused, has been blown by the wind into long delicate fibers or threads.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- Glass threads or fibers formed by the wind from bits blown from frothy lava or from the tips of lava jets or from bits of liquid lava thrown into the air. It often collects in thick masses resembling tow.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Translation of Hawaiian lauoho o Pele : from lauoho, hair of the head (lau, leaf, frond + oho, hair of the head) + o, of + Pele, volcano goddess (from pele, lava flow).]
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word Pele's hair.
Examples
Sorry, no example sentences found.
MaryW commented on the word Pele's hair
Alexandra Witze & Jeff Kanipe, Island on Fire: The Extraordinary Story of a Forgotten Volcano That Changed the World (New York: Island Books, 2015), ch. 1, Kindle loc 357February 10, 2019