Definitions

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

  • noun A volcanic area that gives off sulfurous gases and steam.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An area of more or less corroded and disintegrated volcanic rock, over which sulphurous gases, steam, and other volcanic emanations escape through various orifices, frequently giving rise to what are known as mud-volcanoes, mud-cones, or salses; a region of dying or dormant volcanism.

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

  • noun (Geol.) A volcanic area or vent which yields only sulphur vapors, steam, and the like. It represents the stages of the volcanic activity.

Etymologies

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

[Italian, from solfo, sulfur, from Latin sulfur.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Solfatara, the name of a volcano near Naples, from Italian solfo ("sulphur").

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Examples

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  • ~vent in a volcano through which sulfur-rich gases and steam escape, leaving bright yellow sulfur deposits

    January 18, 2009

  • ~from the Italian solfo (sulphur)

    January 18, 2009

  • The Italian word for sulphur is zolfo, while solfo is archaic.

    June 22, 2010