fossil

From French fossile, from Latin fossilis (“something which has been dug up”), from fodio (“I dig up”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɒsl̩/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɑsl̩/

• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -ɒsəl
• Hyphenation: fos‧sil

fossil (plural fossils)

1. The mineralized remains of an animal or plant.
   • 1870, T. H. Huxley, “On Hypsilophodon Foxii, a new Dinosaurian from the Wealden of the Isle of Wight”, in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, volume 26, page 9:

     With the permission of the Keeper of the fossil collection, therefore, the specimen was subjected to a further careful removal of the matrix in the requisite directions.

   • 1987, Cora Oostendorp, The Bryophytes of the Palaeozoic and the Mesozoic (Bryophytorum Bibliotheca; 34), Berlin, Stuttgart: J. Cramer, page 9:

     Within the Hepaticae two types of fossils can be distinguished: those with sufficient characters to assign them to an order and those with more obscure characters.

2. (paleontology) Any preserved evidence of ancient life, including shells, imprints, burrows, coprolites, and organically-produced chemicals.
   • 2012 March-April, John T. Jost, “Social Justice: Is It in Our Nature (and Our Future)?”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 13 February 2012, page 162:

     He draws eclectically on studies of baboons, descriptive anthropological accounts of hunter-gatherer societies and, in a few cases, the fossil record.

   • 2016 November 9, Mark Carnall, “Is palaeontology a waste of public money?”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     You know what, we’ve got a limited number of heartbeats in this world so if you’re only truly happy researching fossils and can make it work for you, you go for it.

3. (linguistics) A fossil word.
4. (figuratively) Anything extremely old, extinct, or outdated.
5. (figuratively, derogatory) An extremely old or outdated person.
   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     I do not want to convey any disrespectful notion or slight when I call those good and learned men fossils, but my experience is that people are apt to fossilise even at a University if they follow the same paths too persistently.

   • 1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle:

     All at once there was a tapping at the window pane. Atherton was staring at us from without. He shouted through the glass, ‘Come out of that, you fossils! — I’ve news for you!’

• coprolite
• Fossil (Oregon)

From Latin fossilis, from fossa (“ditch”).

fossil

1. fossil (noun modifier), fossilised (UK), fossilized

From New Latin fossile.

fossil n (singular definite fossilet, plural indefinite fossiler)

1. fossil

From Latin fossilis (“something which has been dug up”), from fodio (“I dig up”).

fossil (strong nominative masculine singular fossiler, not comparable)

1. fossil

• “fossil” in Duden online
• “fossil” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

From Latin fossilis.

fossil (neuter singular fossilt, definite singular and plural fossile)

1. fossilised (UK), fossilized, or fossil (noun modifier: e.g. fossil fuels)

From New Latin fossile.

fossil m or n (definite singular fossilen or fossilet, indefinite plural fossiler or fossil, definite plural fossilene or fossila)

1. a fossil (fossilised remains of an animal or plant)

• levende fossil

• “fossil” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Latin fossilis.

fossil (neuter singular fossilt, definite singular and plural fossile)

1. fossilised (UK), fossilized, or fossil (noun modifier)

From New Latin.

fossil n (definite singular fossilet, indefinite plural fossil, definite plural fossila)

1. a fossil (as above)

• “fossil” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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fossil

1. fossil

fossil n

1. a fossil

• fossil in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)