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belemnite

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belemnite


  2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Belemnite  \Be*lem"nite\,  n.  [Gr.  ?  dart,  fr  ?  dart,  fr  ?  to 
  throw:  cf  F.  b['e]lemnite.]  (Paleon.) 
  A  conical  calcareous  fossil,  tapering  to  a  point  at  the  lower 
  extremity,  with  a  conical  cavity  at  the  other  end  where  it 
  is  ordinarily  broken;  but  when  perfect  it  contains  a  small 
  chambered  cone,  called  the  phragmocone,  prolonged,  on  one 
  side  into  a  delicate  concave  blade;  the  thunderstone.  It  is 
  the  internal  shell  of  a  cephalopod  related  to  the  sepia,  and 
  belonging  to  an  extinct  family.  The  belemnites  are  found  in 
  rocks  of  the  Jurassic  and  Cretaceous  ages.  -- 
  {Bel*em*nit"ic},  a. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  belemnite 
  n  :  a  conical  calcareous  fossil  tapering  to  a  point  at  one  end 
  and  with  a  conical  cavity  at  the  other  end  containing 
  (when  unbroken)  a  small  chambered  phragmocone  from  the 
  shell  of  any  of  numerous  extinct  cephalopods  of  the 
  family  Belemnitidae 




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