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Dug out of the eart; as, fossil coal; fossil salt.

Containing or composed of fossils.

The process of becoming fossil.

The science or state of fossils. Coleridge.

One who is versed in the science of fossils; a paleontologist. Joseph Black.

The process of converting, or of being converted, into a fossil.

To convert into a fossil; to petrify; as, to fossilize bones or wood.

Converted into a fossil; antiquated; firmly fixed in views or opinions. A fossilized sample of confused provincialism. Earle.

A variety of amianthus which is very light, like cork.

nning of the American paleozoic time, and including the oldest American rocks known to be fossiliferous. See Geology. -- Acadian owl (Zoöl.), a small North American owl (Nyctule Acadica); the saw-whet.

A gigantic bird found fossil in Madagascar.

the record by unconformities. Algonkian rocks are both sedimentary and igneous. Although fossils are rare, life certainly existed in this period. -- n.

A small cavity in a coral, shell, or fossil

A yellowish translucent resin resembling copal, found as a fossil in alluvial soils, with beds of lignite, or on the seashore in many places. It takes a fine polish, and is used for pipe mouthpieces, beads, etc., and as a basis for a fine varnish. By friction, it becomes strongly electric.

A fossil resin occurring in large masses in New Zealand.

A fossil cephalopod shell related to the nautilus. There are many genera and species, and all are extinct, the typical forms having existed only in the Mesozoic age, when they were exceedingly numerous. They differ from the nautili in having the margins of the septa very much lobed or plaited, and the siphuncle dorsal.…

Containing fossil ammonites.

An extensive group of fossil cephalopods often very abundant in Mesozoic rocks. See Ammonite.

h a manner as to ascertain the elements or nature of the thing examined; as, to analyze a fossil substance; to analyze a sentence or a word; to analyze an action to ascertain its morality. No one, I presume, can analyze the sensations of pleasure or pain. Darwin.

An earlier type; a progenitor; as, this fossil animal is regarded as the ancestor of the horse.