Lewis & Short

Parsing inflected forms may not always work as expected. If the following does not give the correct word, try Latin Words or Perseus.

pūmex, ĭcis, m. (fem., Cat. 1, 2).

  1. I. 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.
  2. II. 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.
    1. B. In gen., a rock: quae nunc oppositis debilitat pumicibus mare, Hor. C. 1, 11, 5.