Definitions

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

  • noun Lava with a smooth ropy surface.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Compact lava. The spongy or rough lava is called a-a.

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

  • noun (Min.) A name given in Hawaii (formerly the Sandwich Islands) to lava having a relatively smooth or billowing surface, in distinction from the rough-surfaced lava, called aa.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A form of lava flow of basaltic rock, usually dark-colored with a smooth or ropey surface. It is one of two chief forms of lava flow emitted from volcanoes of the Hawaiian type, the other form being aa.

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

  • noun freely flowing lava

Etymologies

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

[Hawaiian pāhoehoe : pā-, pref. + hoehoe, reduplication of hoe, to paddle (probably from the swirls on its surface).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Hawaiian pāhoehoe.

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Examples

  • From this grove we travelled as before in single file over an immense expanse of lava of the kind called pahoehoe, or satin rock, to distinguish it from the a-a, or jagged, rugged, impassable rock.

    The Hawaiian Archipelago Isabella Lucy 2004

  • From this grove we travelled as before in single file over an immense expanse of lava of the kind called pahoehoe, or satin rock, to distinguish it from the a-a, or jagged, rugged, impassable rock.

    The Hawaiian Archipelago 1867

  • We learned there are many types of lava: pahoehoe and aa both terms being Hawaiian, naturally, and referring to highly sculpted lava and to lava with jagged clinker on the top you shout "ah ah!" as you walk along the clinker in bare feet.

    Americana Walter Jon Williams 2008

  • We learned there are many types of lava: pahoehoe and aa both terms being Hawaiian, naturally, and referring to highly sculpted lava and to lava with jagged clinker on the top you shout "ah ah!" as you walk along the clinker in bare feet.

    Archive 2008-07-01 Walter Jon Williams 2008

  • Ahead and to the right were rolling miles of a pahoehoe sea, bounded by the unseen Pacific 3,000 feet below, with countless craters, fissures emitting vapour, and all other concomitants of volcanic action; bounded to the north by the vast crater of

    The Hawaiian Archipelago Isabella Lucy 2004

  • For two hours before reaching the top, the way lies over countless flows and beds of lava, much disintegrated, and almost entirely of the kind called pahoehoe.

    The Hawaiian Archipelago Isabella Lucy 2004

  • We had a delicious gallop over the sands to the Waiakea river, which we crossed, and came upon one of the vast lava-flows of ages since, over which we had to ride carefully, as the pahoehoe lies in rivers, coils, tortuosities, and holes partially concealed by a luxuriant growth of ferns and convolvuli.

    The Hawaiian Archipelago Isabella Lucy 2004

  • Professor Alexander, of Honolulu, supposes them to be from the beginning less fluid than pahoehoe, and that they advance very slowly, being full of solid points, or centres of cooling: that a-a, in fact, grains like sugar.

    The Hawaiian Archipelago Isabella Lucy 2004

  • Koloa Ridge to, and into the sea, a barren uneven surface of pahoehoe extends, often bulged up in immense bubbles, some of which have partially burst, leaving caverns, one of which, near the shore, is paved with the ancient coral reef!

    The Hawaiian Archipelago Isabella Lucy 2004

  • But beyond this lie ten miles of pahoehoe, the lava-flows of ages, with only now and then the vestige of a trail.

    The Hawaiian Archipelago Isabella Lucy 2004

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