belemnite

American  

[bel-uhm-nahyt] / ˈbɛl əmˌnaɪt /

noun

Paleontology.

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

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belemnite British  

/ 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

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belemnite Scientific  

/ bĕl′əm-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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Etymology

Origin of belemnite

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

Example Sentences

The belemnite, it turned out, had been discovered four years earlier by an amateur naturalist named Chaning Pearce, and the discovery had been fully reported at a meeting of the Geological Society.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson

Cerau′nite, a belemnite; Cerau′noscope, an apparatus for imitating thunder and lightning in ancient mysteries.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various

This stone, about which there has been more obscurity and confusion than about any other gem, is supposed by some writers to be the tourmaline, by others a jacinth, and by others a belemnite.

From On the magnet, magnetick bodies also, and on the great magnet the earth a new physiology, demonstrated by many arguments & experiments by Gilbert, William

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.

From Falling in Love With Other Essays on More Exact Branches of Science by Allen, Grant

The belemnite here calls for some particular notice. 

From Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation by Chambers, Robert