Dictionary

stalactitic en · ADJ

Etymology

From stalactite + -ic.

Meanings

1. Consisting of or resembling stalactites.
   • From this point both the landscape and the rocky cauldron are visible, and the latter is seen to be the remainder of a stalactitic cavern, the roof of which has fallen in. 1916, Fedor Jagor, Tomas de Comyn, Chas. Wilkes, Rudolf Virchow., The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes:
   • Dr. MacCulloch describes calcareous concretions, found in banks of sand in Perthshire, which present a great variety of stalactitic forms, generally more or less complicated, and often exceedingly intricate and strange […]. 1822, Phillip Parker King, Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia, volume 2:
   • In this manner, much as in the case of the growth of stalactitic matter between the blocks of stone in the roofs of a cavern, large fragments of rock, known as "horses," are often pushed out into the body of the vein. 1910, Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, Outlines of the Earth's History:

Forms