neolithn.adj.
/ˈniːə(ʊ)ˌlɪθ/, U.S. /ˈniəˌlɪθ/ Archaeology.
A. n.
1. A neolithic weapon or implement.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > [noun] > tool as weapon
weapon-tool1861
neolith1880
1880 Science 16 Oct. 193/1 Modern Indian implements (‘neoliths’), although abundant on the surface, never occur more than a few inches below it.
1882 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 11 136 (note) As a connecting link between neoliths and palæoliths..is a large series of quartz arrow-heads.
1899 T. R. Jones Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 28 50 The latter tools are well known as ‘Neoliths’, and the former as ‘Palæoliths’.
1923 Man 23 99 A rough..division of flint working in the three periods may be described by the terms hacking, chipping, and flaking: hacking for the eoliths, chipping for palæoliths, and flaking for neoliths.
1958 Jrnl. Royal Anthropol. Inst. 88 187 Although neoliths or other large implements are lacking from the hilltop factory sites, this does not necessarily mean that they will not be found at other sites belonging to the same culture.
2001 Asian Perspectives (Nexis) 40 6 Morris also noticed that the Burma neoliths were obviously the cutting tools of a wood-working peoples—axes, adzes, wedges, and chisel blades.
2. A person who lived in the Neolithic period. Also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > customs, values, and civilization > a civilization or culture > [noun] > person of specific prehistoric culture > Neolithic
neolith1882
Tasian1929
1882 G. Allen in Knowledge 24 Feb. 352 The neoliths were unacquainted with the use of metal, but they employed weapons and implements of stone,..carefully ground and polished.
1883 Pall Mall Gaz. 3 Oct. 2/1 The tall Saxon did not..oust the shorter Celt or neolith.
1909 J. Davidson Fleet St. & Other Poems 33 Fill your glass: salute The memory of the happy neolith Who had the luck to hit on roast and boiled.
1939 Sci. Monthly 48 533/1 Our somewhat more recent ancestors—those neoliths distant by no more than a thousand generations.
1980 Hispanic Amer. Hist. Rev. 61 (1981) 570 The fatal flaw in the scheme was the selection of a neolith the likes of Mann to fill the post.
1991 Sunday Times (Nexis) 17 Feb. (Features section) Neoliths cleared much of our virgin forest, and medieval villeins were responsible for exterminating the best wildlife from the copses that remained.
B. adj.
= Neolithic adj. 1. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > customs, values, and civilization > a civilization or culture > [adjective] > Neolithic
Neolithic1865
neolith1882
1882 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 11 136 It was found associated with other neolith weapons.
a1962 R. Jeffers Coll. Poetry (1991) IV. 451 The neolith people planting flowers, not to eat but look at. They do not fear hunger now, they plant roses.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.adj.1880