belemnite

[ bel-uhm-nahyt ]

nounPaleontology.
  1. a conical fossil, several inches long, consisting of the internal calcareous rod of an extinct animal allied to the cuttlefish; a thunderstone.

Origin of belemnite

1
1640–50; <French bélemnite, equivalent to Greek bélemn(on) a dart (noun derivative from base of bállein to throw) + French -ite-ite1

Words Nearby belemnite

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use belemnite in a sentence

  • The very form of the belemnite at once suggests the notion of a dart or lance-head, which has gained for it its scientific name.

    Falling in Love | Grant Allen
  • Indeed, I have had two thunderbolts shown me at once, one of which was a large belemnite, and the other a modern Indian tomahawk.

    Falling in Love | Grant Allen
  • No species of belemnite at present known agreeing with the description; it is supposed to have been taken from a broken specimen.

    A Conchological Manual | George Brettingham Sowerby
  • De Montfort's figure of this genus appears as if it had been drawn from the nucleus of a belemnite.

    A Conchological Manual | George Brettingham Sowerby
  • As a genus it holds a place intermediate between the Cuttle-fish and the belemnite.

British Dictionary definitions for belemnite

belemnite

/ (ˈbɛləmˌnaɪt) /


noun
  1. any extinct marine cephalopod mollusc of the order Belemnoidea, related to the cuttlefish

  2. the long pointed conical internal shell of any of these animals: a common Mesozoic fossil

Origin of belemnite

1
C17: from Greek belemnon dart

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for belemnite

belemnite

[ bĕləm-nīt′ ]


  1. Any of various extinct cephalopod mollusks of the order Belemnoidea that lived from the Triassic into the Tertiary Period. Belemnites had a large, cone-shaped internal shell with a complex structure that served as a support for muscles and as a hydrostatic device. Belemnites were closely related to the present-day squids and cuttlefishes.

  2. The fossilized internal shell of one of these cephalopods. Belemnites are used as index fossils.

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