Prehistoric
[priːhɪ'stɒrɪk] or [,prihɪ'stɔrɪk]
Definition
(adj.) no longer fashionable; 'my mother has these prehistoric ideas about proper clothes' .
(adj.) belonging to or existing in times before recorded history; 'prehistoric settlements'; 'prehistoric peoples' .
(adj.) of or relating to times before written history; 'prehistoric archeology' .
Checked by Adelaide--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Of or pertaining to a period before written history begins; as, the prehistoric ages; prehistoric man.
Edited by Elise
Definition
adj. relating to a time before that treated of in history.—n. Prēhis′tory history prior to record—the Ger. Urgeschichte.
Typist: Terrence
Unserious Contents or Definition
adj. Belonging to an early period and a museum. Antedating the art and practice of perpetuating falsehood.
Edited by Dinah
Examples
- Far back in the obscuring gloom of a prehistoric antiquity, man wore probably only the hirsute covering which nature gave him. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- Silbury Hill is the largest prehistoric artificial mound in England. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- BOOK III THE DAWN OF HISTORY XV THE ARYAN-SPEAKING PEOPLES IN PREHISTORIC TIMES § 1. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- But both in the matter of our time charts and the three maps we have given of prehistoric geography there is necessarily much speculative matter. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- It is interesting to speculate how prehistoric man came to use the skin of the beasts of the field for warmth and shelter. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- Here, for example, is the concluding passage of the _Iliad_, describing very exactly the making of a prehistoric barrow. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Neither the historic nor prehistoric records find man without musical instruments of some sort. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- Only I don't see-- Dash it, Dad, don't be prehistoric! Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- Contrast of Prehistoric Labour and Implements and Modern Tools. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- One of the most interesting and informing of these prehistoric compositions of the Aryans survives in the Greek _Iliad_. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Pearls were the first gems discovered and used as ornaments in prehistoric ages. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- There may have been prehistoric pestilences. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- It does not affect the clear evidence of a very long and very ancient prehistoric separation of the speakers of these three diverse groups of tongues. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Accordingly we have now only the very much altered and revised vestiges of that spoken literature of prehistoric times. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- It is from the active, restless seas of the present, and from the dead seas of the prehistoric past that our vast stores of salt come. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
Edited by Dinah