Fos"sil , n.
1. A substance dug from the earth. [Obs.]
&fist; Formerly all minerals were called
fossils, but the word is now
restricted to express the remains of animals and plants found buried in the earth.
Ure.
2. (Paleon.)
The remains of an animal or
plant found in stratified rocks. Most fossils belong to extinct species, but many of the later ones belong to species still living.
3. A person whose views and opinions are extremely antiquated; one whose sympathies are with a former
time rather than with the
present. [Colloq.]
Fos"sil (?), a. [L. fossilis, fr. fodere to dig: cf. F.
fossile. See Fosse.]
1. Dug out of the earth; as,
fossil coal; fossil salt.
2. (Paleon.) Like or pertaining to fossils; contained in rocks, whether petrified or not; as, fossil plants, shells.
Fossil copal, a resinous substance, first found in the
blue clay at Highgate, near London, and apparently a vegetable resin, partly changed by remaining in the earth. -- Fossil cork, flax, paper, or wood, varieties of amianthus. -- Fossil farina, a soft carbonate of lime. -- Fossil ore, fossiliferous
red hematite.
Raymond.
Hear it pronounced