Cretaceanadj.n.
/krᵻˈteɪʃn/, U.S. /krəˈteɪʃ(ə)n/ Geology.
A. adj.
= cretaceous adj. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > age or period > stratigraphic units > [adjective] > secondary or Mesozoic > Cretaceous
cretaceous1831
Cretacean1846
1846 Littell's Living Age 7 Nov. 354/2 The lapse of ages, implied by the distinctness of the fossils of the eocene, cretacean, carboniferous, and other strata.
1870 Appleton's Jrnl. 19 Nov. 619/3 The vegetation of the cretacean period approaches that of our days.
1936 Geografiska Ann. 18 120 They were intruded mainly in Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretacean times.
1993 Sunday Times (Nexis) 12 Dec. From beneath the looming skeleton of a late Cretacean titanosaurus, they gingerly removed a priceless clutch of 70m-year-old dinosaur eggs.
B. n.
1. With the: = cretaceous n. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > age or period > stratigraphic units > [noun] > secondary or Mesozoic > Cretaceous
cretaceous1851
Cretacean1867
1867 Ann. Rep. Trustees Mus. Compar. Zool. in Amer. Naturalist (1868) 2 554 In California and Vancouver Island, the red woods or Sequoia, abound in the Cretacean and Tertiary, as now.
1953 E. Palmer tr. S. Ekman Zoogeogr. Sea iv. 70 We recall the number of cidaroids in the East Atlantic: 95 in the upper Cretacean, 73 in the Eocene, 26 in the Miocene.
2001 A. H. Delsemme Our Cosmic Origins vi. 188 The Foraminifera are marine shellfish of the Cretacean; they were extinct in the Tertiary.
2. An animal of the Cretaceous period. rare.
ΚΠ
1868 Amer. Naturalist 2 166 Professor Cope exhibited teeth of a new Cretacean, Squalodon mento Cope.
1997 Times of Oman (Nexis) 11 June During the same period all the cretaceans had a major extinction phase, and about 25 to 30 per cent of life on earth vanished.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, September 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1846