fossil


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fos·sil

 (fŏs′əl)
n.
1. A remnant or trace of an organism of a past geologic age, such as a skeleton or leaf imprint, embedded and preserved in the earth's crust.
2. One that is outdated or antiquated: He was viewed as a fossil after decades in the same job.
3. Linguistics
a. A word or morpheme that is used only in certain restricted contexts, as kempt in unkempt, but is otherwise obsolete.
b. An archaic syntactic rule or pattern used only in idioms, as so be it.
adj.
1. Characteristic of or having the nature of a fossil.
2. Being or similar to a fossil.
3. Belonging to the past; antiquated.

[From Latin fossilis, dug up, from fossus, past participle of fodere, to dig.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

fossil

(ˈfɒsəl)
n
1. (Palaeontology)
a. a relic, remnant, or representation of an organism that existed in a past geological age, or of the activity of such an organism, occurring in the form of mineralized bones, shells, etc, as casts, impressions, and moulds, and as frozen perfectly preserved organisms
b. (as modifier): fossil insects.
2. informal derogatory
a. a person, idea, thing, etc, that is outdated or incapable of change
b. (as modifier): fossil politicians.
3. (Linguistics) linguistics a form once current but now appearing only in one or two special contexts, as for example stead, which is found now only in instead (of) and in phrases like in his stead
4. obsolete any rock or mineral dug out of the earth
[C17: from Latin fossilis dug up, from fodere to dig]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

fos•sil

(ˈfɒs əl)

n.
1. any preserved remains or imprint of a living organism, usu. of a former geologic age, as a bone, shell, or leaf impression.
2. a markedly outdated or old-fashioned person or thing.
3. an obsolete or archaic word preserved in certain restricted contexts, as nonce in for the nonce, or a construction following a pattern no longer productive in the language, as So be it.
adj.
4. of the nature of a fossil: fossil insects.
5. formed from the remains of prehistoric life, as coal or oil: fossil fuels; fossil resins.
6. antiquated.
[1555–65; < French fossile < Latin fossilisobtained by digging, derivative of fodere to dig]
fos′sil•like`, adj.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

fos·sil

(fŏs′əl)
The hardened remains or imprint of a plant or animal that lived long ago. Fossils are often found in layers of sedimentary rock and along the beds of rivers that flow through them. Other sources of fossils include tar pits, ice, and amber. ♦ Petroleum, coal, and natural gas, which are derived from the accumulated remains of ancient plants and animals, are called fossil fuels.

fossilize verb
The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

fossil

1. The remains of a prehistoric plant or animal found preserved in a solid, mineralized form in rocks or, sometimes, frozen in ice.
2. The remains or trace of an organism preserved in sedimentary rocks.
Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words by Diagram Group Copyright © 2008 by Diagram Visual Information Limited
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.fossil - someone whose style is out of fashion
colloquialism - a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech
2.fossil - the remains (or an impression) of a plant or animal that existed in a past geological age and that has been excavated from the soil
fucoid - a fossilized cast or impression of algae of the order Fucales
belemnite - a conical calcareous fossil tapering to a point at one end and with a conical cavity at the other end containing (when unbroken) a small chambered phragmocone from the shell of any of numerous extinct cephalopods of the family Belemnitidae
ammonite, ammonoid - one of the coiled chambered fossil shells of extinct mollusks
guide fossil, index fossil - a fossil known to have lived in a particular geologic age that can be used to date the rock layer in which it is found
microfossil - a fossil that must be studied microscopically
remains - any object that is left unused or still extant; "I threw out the remains of my dinner"
wormcast - fossil trail of a worm
Adj.1.fossil - characteristic of a fossil
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

fossil

noun fossilized remains, remains, petrified remains, impression, relic They dissolved the fossil and extracted the DNA.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

fossil

noun
An old-fashioned person who is reluctant to change or innovate:
Informal: stick-in-the-mud.
Slang: square.
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
مُتَحَجِّرَه
zkamenělina
fossilforstening
FossilInkluse
fossiili
fosil
kövület
steingervingur
化石
fosilijapaversti į akmenįsuakmenėjusi liekana
fosilija
skamenelina
okamnina

fossil

[ˈfɒsl]
A. Nfósil m
B. CPDfósil
fossil fuel Nhidrocarburo m
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

fossil

[ˈfɒsəl]
nfossile m
modif [collector, hunter] → de fossilesfossil energy nénergie f fossilefossil fuel ncombustible m fossile
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

fossil

n (lit)Fossil nt; he’s an old fossil! (inf)er ist so verknöchert
adjversteinert
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

fossil

[ˈfɒsl] n & adjfossile (m)
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

fossil

(ˈfosl) noun
the hardened remains of an animal or vegetable found in rock. Fossils have been found here which may be a million years old.
ˈfossilize, ˈfossilise verb
to change into a fossil. Time had fossilized the animal remains in the river-bed.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
References in classic literature ?
Ere entering upon the subject of Fossil Whales, I present my credentials as a geologist, by stating that in my miscellaneous time i have been a stone-mason, and also a great digger of ditches, canals, and wells, wine-vaults, cellars, and cisterns of all sorts.
Substitute for Fuel on the Prairies.- Fossil Trees.- Fierceness of the Buffaloes When in Heat.- Three Hunters Missing.- Signal Fires and Smokes.- Uneasiness Concerning the Lost Men.- A Plan to Forestall a Rogue.- New Arrangement With Rose.- Return of the Wanderers.
It reminded me of a sepia painting I had once seen done from the ink of a fossil Belemnite that must have perished and become fossilized millions of years ago.
Professor Marsh said those skeletons were fossils. So that makes me part blue grass and part fossil; if there is any older or better stock, you will have to look for it among the Four Hundred, I reckon.
It would do you good to walk there and back two or three times a day; besides, are you such a fossil that you never wish to see a flower or a green leaf?"
The Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle includes an account of the Fossil Mammalia, by Professor Owen; of the Living Mammalia, by Mr.
Hence we ought not to expect at the present time to meet with numerous transitional varieties in each region, though they must have existed there, and may be embedded there in a fossil condition.
Ah, if I had only known then that he was only a common mortal, and that his mission had nothing more overpowering about it than the collecting of seeds and uncommon yams and extraordinary cabbages and peculiar bullfrogs for that poor, useless, innocent, mildewed old fossil the Smithsonian Institute, I would have felt so much relieved.
It was now their turn to impose some limit on that selenographic science, which had reconstructed the lunar world as Cuvier did the skeleton of a fossil, and say, "The moon was this, a habitable world, inhabited before the earth.
But I presently found an antique which was older than either the battered Cathedral or the date assigned to the piece of history; it was a spiral-shaped fossil as large as the crown of a hat; it was embedded in the marble bench, and had been sat upon by tourists until it was worn smooth.
The neighbourhood of the upper Thames is rich in Roman relics, and my surmise seemed to me a very probable one; but our serious young man, who is a bit of a geologist, pooh-poohed my Roman relic theory, and said it was clear to the meanest intellect (in which category he seemed to be grieved that he could not conscientiously include mine) that the thing the boy had found was the fossil of a whale; and he pointed out to us various evidences proving that it must have belonged to the preglacial period.
"In your little room, sir," replied Conseil, "and in your museum, sir; and I should have already classed all your fossils, sir.