View source for pumex

{{Lewis
|lshtext=<b>pūmex</b>: ĭcis, m. (<br /><b>I</b> fem., Cat. 1, 2).<br /><b>I</b> Lit., a pumice-[[stone]], Plin. 36, 21, 42, § 154; used for smoothing books, Cat. 1, 2; 22, 6; Hor. Ep. 1, 20, 2; Ov. Tr. 1, 1, 11; Mart. 8, 72, 2; [[hence]] [[poet]]., of verses [[carefully]] smoothed, i. e. [[polished]], Prop. 3 (4), 1, 8; used by the [[effeminate]] for smoothing the [[skin]], Ov. A. A. 1, 506; Mart. 14, 205; Juv. 8, 16.—Prov.: aquam a pumice postulare, to [[try]] to [[draw]] [[blood]] from a [[stone]], i. e. to [[demand]] [[money]] from one [[who]] has [[none]], Plaut. Pers. 1, 1, 42; cf. as an [[image]] of [[dryness]]: [[pumex]] non [[aeque]] est [[aridus]] [[atque]] hic est [[senex]], id. Aul. 2, 4, 8.—<br /><b>II</b> Poet., transf., [[soft]] [[stone]], [[porous]] [[rock]] of [[any]] [[kind]], Ov. M. 3, 159; 8, 561; id. F. 2, 315; Verg. G. 4, 44; id. A. 5, 214.—<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<b>B</b> In gen., a [[rock]]: quae [[nunc]] oppositis debilitat pumicibus [[mare]], Hor. C. 1, 11, 5.
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