fossil
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
fossil /ˈfɒs(ə)l, -sɪl/
▶noun
- 1 the remains or impression of a prehistoric plant or animal embedded in rock and preserved in petrified form.
- 2 humorous an antiquated person or thing.
- 3 a word or phrase that has become obsolete except in set phrases or forms, e.g. hue in hue and cry.
– origin C16: from Fr. fossile, from L. fossilis ‘dug up’.
'fossil' also found in these Oxford entries:
acid rain
- alternative energy
- ammonia
- archaeopteryx
- Australopithecus
- carbon
- carbon cycle
- carbon tax
- ceratite
- chalicothere
- conodont
- corallite
- creodont
- cynodont
- dawn redwood
- diatomaceous earth
- dicynodont
- dimetrodon
- dinosaur
- eurypterid
- facies
- fossil fuel
- fossil ivory
- fossilize
- glyptodont
- goniatite
- graptolite
- hominid
- hominoid
- hyracotherium
- ichthyosaur
- -ite
- microfossil
- missing link
- mosasaur
- ostracoderm
- palaeoanthropology
- palaeobiology
- palaeobotany
- palaeoecology
- palaeontology
- pelycosaur
- placoderm
- plesiosaur
- pteridosperm
- pterosaur
- Ramapithecus
- rudist
- thecodont
