alcyoniten.
/ˈalsɪənʌɪt/, U.S. /ˈælsiəˌnaɪt/ Palaeontology. Now historical and rare.
A fossil alcyonium, esp. an alcyonarian coral.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Diploblastica > phylum Coelenterata > [noun] > class Anthozoa Actinozoa > order Alcyonaria > genus Alcyonium > fossil related to
alcyonite1799
1799 Philos. Mag. 3 200 These stone masses may be considered either as excrescences or petrefactions, and may be classed among the carpolites or alcyonites.
1822 J. Flint Lett. from Amer. 261 The rocks contain..millepores, favocites, alcyonites, corals.
1865 W. White Eastern Eng. II. 174 Agates, carnelians, Alcyonites..may be picked up by those who know how to look for them.
1898 Parisian 5 629 The instinct of a collector guided the eyes of our ‘Oscar’ to the fragments of fossils, ammonites, belemnites, alcyonites, dentrites, etc.
1974 Geosci. Documentation 7 35/2 When discussing alcyonites, fossil sponges, he writes: [etc.].
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1799