Protozoicadj.1
/ˌprəʊtə(ʊ)ˈzəʊɪk/, U.S. /ˌproʊdəˈzoʊɪk/ Geology.
Designating rocks which contain fossils of the most primitive forms of life, or the period in which they were deposited; of or relating to this period; = Proterozoic adj. Also occasionally fig.: archaic, primitive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > age or period > [adjective] > pre-Cambrian
Protozoic1838
prozoic1845
Precambrian1864
Cryptozoic1911
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > age or period > stratigraphic units > [adjective] > pre-Cambrian
primitive1779
primordial1794
primary1795
Protozoic1838
prozoic1845
Cryptozoic1911
1838 A. Sedgwick in Proc. Geol. Soc. 2 684 Class 1. Primary stratified Groups... Should organic remains appear unequivocally in any parts of this class, they may be described as the Protozoic System.
1839 R. I. Murchison Silurian Syst. i. 11 The Silurian..are..but the upper portion of a succession of early deposits, which it may hereafter be found necessary to describe under one..name. For this purpose I venture to suggest the term ‘Protozoic Rocks’, thereby to imply the first or lowest formations in which animals or vegetables appear.
1859 D. Page Handbk. Geol. Terms 303 Protozoic.., applied to the earlier fossiliferous epoch and strata; equivalent to Primordial.
1884 Science 1 Feb. 127/1 The name ‘paleozoic’, as applied to these first records, is a misnomer. There was a protozoic period.
1966 Musical Times Jan. 55/1 After a few examples of protozoic polyphony, there is a substantial body of early 14th-century music.
1983 Science 25 Nov. 923/3 This division..leads Salop to divide all geologic history into Archean, ‘dawn of life’.., Protozoic, ‘primitive life’.., and Phanerozoic, ‘true (or evident) life’.
1997 Trans. Inst. Brit. Geographers 22 142/2 In the Northern Territory of Australia.., enclosed depressions are present on non-calcareous Cretaceous sediments overlying Protozoic dolomites.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1909; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
protozoicadj.2
/ˌprəʊtə(ʊ)ˈzəʊɪk/, U.S. /ˌproʊdəˈzoʊɪk/ Chiefly Zoology and Medicine.
= protozoan adj. Also in extended (non-technical) use: designating or associated with very primitive forms or stages of animal life.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > protozoa > [adjective]
protozoic1864
hypozoic1865
protozoal1865
protozoan1869
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > parasitic disorders > [adjective] > other parasites
protozoal1904
protozoic1906
leishmanial1912
sarcosporidial1927
onchocercal1974
1864 Webster's Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. Protozoic, of, or pertaining to, the protozoa.
1865 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 155 534 The perfect organic and relative life of this being, closely comparable to the life of the most highly gifted members of the protozoic subkingdom.., resides..in a pseudembryonic sarcodic layer.
1877 T. H. Huxley Man. Anat. Invertebrated Animals i. 47 A similar process takes place in sundry Protozoa and gives rise to a protozoic aggregate, which is strictly comparable to the Morula.
1906 Q. Rev. Apr. 522 The protozoic origin of malaria.
1920 T. S. Eliot Ara Vos Prec 14 A lustreless protrusive eye Stares from the protozoic slime.
1939 Amer. Naturalist 73 38 The normal or pathological protozoic fauna of the animal intestine.
1987 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 84 565/1 Leishmania are members of the protozoic order Kinetoplastida.
1990 Jrnl. Hist. Ideas 51 159 Tournier shows his character regressing into a protozoic state.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.11838adj.21864