| 释义 |
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2024fos•sil /ˈfɑsəl/USA pronunciation n. [countable]- Paleontologythe preserved remains, or an imprint, of an organism from a former age.
- a very outdated or old-fashioned person or thing.
adj. [before a noun] - of the nature of a fossil:fossil insects.
- formed from the remains of prehistoric life:Coal and oil are fossil fuels.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2024fos•sil (fos′əl),USA pronunciation n. - any remains, impression, or trace of a living thing of a former geologic age, as a skeleton, footprint, etc.
- a markedly outdated or old-fashioned person or thing.
- Linguisticsa linguistic form that is archaic except in certain restricted contexts, as nonce in for the nonce, or that follows a rule or pattern that is no longer productive, as the sentence So be it.
adj. - of the nature of a fossil:fossil insects.
- belonging to a past epoch or discarded system;
antiquated:a fossil approach to economics.
- French
- Latin fossilis dug up (Cf. fodere to dig); replacing earlier fossile
- 1555–65
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers:: fossil /ˈfɒsəl/ n - a relic, remnant, or representation of an organism that existed in a past geological age, or of the activity of such an organism, occurring in the form of mineralized bones, shells, etc, as casts, impressions, and moulds, and as frozen perfectly preserved organisms
- (as modifier): fossil insects
- informal derogatory a person, idea, thing, etc, that is outdated or incapable of change
- a form once current but now appearing only in one or two special contexts, as for example stead, which is found now only in instead (of) and in phrases like in his stead
Etymology: 17th Century: from Latin fossilis dug up, from fodere to dig |