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.
© Webster 1913.
Fos"sil, n.
1.
A substance dug from the earth.
[Obs.]
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.]
© Webster 1913.