Origin of the word
The word volcano is derived from Vulcano, a volcanic island in the Aeolian Islands off the coast of Italy. The name comes from Vulcan, the Roman god of fire.
Examples
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
It was announced on the 12th August that scientists have recently discovered 91 volcanoes below the Antarctic ice sheet.
Definition
a mountain that forces hot gas, rocks, ash, and lava (=melted rock) into the air through a hole at the top. Some volcanoes are not immediately dangerous because they are not active and have become dormant.
View the full definition in the Macmillan Dictionary.
