Ammonite
[æmәnait]
Definition
(noun.) one of the coiled chambered fossil shells of extinct mollusks.
Checker: Willa--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A fossil cephalopod shell related to the nautilus. There are many genera and species, and all are extinct, the typical forms having existed only in the Mesozoic age, when they were exceedingly numerous. They differ from the nautili in having the margins of the septa very much lobed or plaited, and the siphuncle dorsal. Also called serpent stone, snake stone, and cornu Ammonis.
Typist: Melville
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Snake-stone.
Edited by Carlos
Definition
n. the fossil shell of an extinct genus of molluscs so called because they resemble the horns on the statue of Jupiter Ammon worshipped as a ram.
Inputed by Clinton
Examples
- In some cases, however, the extermination of whole groups, as of ammonites, towards the close of the secondary period, has been wonderfully sudden. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- Ammonites and Moabites became adherents. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
Checker: Sandra