radioliten.
/ˈreɪdɪə(ʊ)lʌɪt/, U.S. /ˈreɪdiəˌlaɪt/ Now rare.
1. Palaeontology. A rudist bivalve mollusc of the Cretaceous genus Radiolites or family Radiolitidae; = radiolitid n. N.E.D. (1903) gives another sense, for a kind of cephalopod, citing G. B. Sowerby Man. Conchol. (1839) 91, but this arises from a misreading of Radiolites for Radiolata.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > class Pelecypoda or Conchifera > [noun] > section Siphonida > integro-pallialia > family Hippuritidae > member of
hippurite1798
spherulite1834
radiolite1835
rudist1855
rudistid1900
1835 A. Sedgwick & R. I. Murchison in Trans. Geol. Soc. 3 365 A grey limestone..containing..a Radiolite.
1859 D. Page Handbk. Geol. Terms 310 The Radiolite has an inversely conical under-valve, with a deep straight cavity.
1878 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 7 358 Below the nummulites, hippurites, and radiolites (Rudisten-Kalk), lies on both sides of the valley, with a sharp dip, a band of limestone..which polishes like marble.
1967 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 252 94 Chubb..draws attention to three specimens of the gregarious radiolite Thyrastylon adherens.
2. Mineralogy. A variety of natrolite occurring in masses with a radiated structure. Chiefly historical.
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1835 Rec. Gen. Sci. 1 267 Radiolite.—Pfaff found this mineral to consist of..Silica...48 Alumina...27 [etc.].
1868 J. D. Dana Syst. Mineral. (ed. 5) 427 The radiolite is in radiated masses, and compact fibrous nodules, of a grayish color.
1911 Encycl. Brit. XIX. 273/2 The mineral also often occurs in compact fibrous aggregates, the fibres having a divergent or radial arrangement (hence the name radiolite for one variety).
1993 A. M. Clark Hey's Mineral Index (ed. 3) 583/2 Radiolite,..a provisional name for the material later recognised as natrolite (of Klaproth). Named from its radiating habit.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1835