fossil
pronunciation
How to pronounce fossil in British English:
UK [ˈfɒsl]
How to pronounce fossil in American English:
US [ˈfɑːsl]
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- Noun:
- someone whose style is out of fashion
- the remains (or an impression) of a plant or animal that existed in a past geological age and that has been excavated from the soil
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- Adjective:
- characteristic of a fossil
Word Origin
- fossil
- fossil: [17] Etymologically, a fossil is something ‘dug’ out of the ground. It comes via French fossile from Latin fossilis ‘dug up’, a derivative of the verb fodere ‘dig’. The English adjective originally meant virtually the same as Latin fossilis (‘Seven unmixt fossil Metals are forecited’, Robert Vilvain, Epitome of Essais 1654), and this sense survives in the present-day expression fossil fuel, but the word’s main modern connotation ‘excavated relic of a former life-form’ had begun to emerge by the mid 17th century.
- fossil (n.)
- 1610s, "any thing dug up;" 1650s (adj.) "obtained by digging" (of coal, salt, etc.), from French fossile (16c.), from Latin fossilis "dug up," from fossus, past participle of fodere "to dig," from PIE root *bhedh- "to dig, pierce." Restricted noun sense of "geological remains of a plant or animal" is from 1736 (the adjective in the sense "pertaining to fossils" is from 1660s); slang meaning "old person" first recorded 1859. Fossil fuel (1833) preserves the earlier, broader sense.
Example
- 1. The hunt is on for alternatives to fossil fuels .
- 2. Unlike bony wings , number-crunching brains leave little trace in the fossil record .
- 3. I am living fossil of new age .
- 4. Subsidising fossil fuels has many flaws .
- 5. That is just using more fossil fuel .