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Devonian, a. (n.)|dɪˈvəʊnɪən|
[f. med.L. Devonia, latinized form of Devon, OE. Defena-, Defna-scír Devonshire.]
1. Of or belonging to Devonshire.
1612Drayton Poly-olb. i. 284 Easely ambling downe through the Deuonian dales. 1880M. E. Braddon Just as I am ii, A younger branch of a good old Devonian family tree. 1887― Like & Unlike xi, The hedgerows were budding in the soft Devonian air.
b. as n. A native or inhabitant of Devonshire.
1882C. E. Mathews in Athenæum 23 Dec. 848/1 A treasure not only to Devonians, but to book lovers generally.
2. Geol. Name given to a geological formation or ‘system’ of rocks lying below the Carboniferous and above the Silurian formations; hence, of or pertaining to this formation and the geological period during which it was deposited.
The name was given in reference to the great development of these rocks as a marine formation in Devonshire. The rocks called ‘Old Red Sandstone’ in Scotland, West of England, and South Wales, are held to be lacustrine deposits of contemporary age, and included in the Devonian System; and the term is applied all over the world to a system of rocks having the same stratigraphical position, and containing organic remains similar to those of the Devonshire strata.
1837Sedgwick & Murchison in Trans. Geol. Soc. Ser. ii. V. 701 We purpose therefore for the future to designate these groups [the Cornish Killas and the Devonian slates] collectively by the name Devonian system, as involving no hypothesis and being agreeable to analogy. 1846Expos. Outline of Vestiges Nat. Hist. Creation 24 The Old Red Sandstone or Devonian System comes next. 1871Lyell Stud. Elem. Geol. 421 The name Devonian was given by Sir R. Murchison and Professor Sedgwick to marine fossiliferous strata which, in the South of England, occupy a similar position between the overlying coal and the underlying Silurian formation. 1873Dawson Earth & Man v. 84 The Devonian, or, as it may be better called in America, from the vast development of its beds on the south side of Lake Erie, the Erian formation. 1885Lyell's Stud. Elem. Geol. 418 The number of American Devonian plants has now been raised..to 160. Ibid. 419 There were no..Reptilia during the Devonian age. |