Ammonite
adjEtymology From Ammon + -ite.
1
Of or pertaining to the Ammonites.
Ammonite
nounalso spelled AmmoniteUS [ˈɛə̯mɪ̈nʌɪ̯t̚] · /ˈæ.məˌnaɪt/
Etymology From Ammon + -ite.
1
A native or inhabitant of Ammon.
- Derived terms
- Ammonitish
ammonite
nounEtymology From French ammonite, from Latin Ammōnis (cornū) (“horn of Ammon”), as it was called by Pliny the Elder in reference to coiling ram horns used to symbolise the Egyptian god Amun. Equivalent to Ammon + -ite.
1
Biology, History, Human sciences, Natural sciences, Paleontology, Sciences Any of an extinct group of cephalopods of the subclass Ammonoidea; a fossil shell of such an animal.
- There's more interest to my mind in a neolithic scraper than in a whole show-case-full of ammonites and belemnites.1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries:
- Ammonites floated through the world's shallow oceans for more than three hundred million years, and their fossilized shells turn up all around the world.2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Picador, →ISBN, page 83:
1 more example
- There are a few well known shelled giant cephalopods from the fossil record. Some of the largest recorded ammonites are in the genus Parapuzosia, fossils of which reach up to 2m in diameter.2017 October 31, Mark Carnall, “Searching for the Old Ones: Lovecraftian giant cephalopods and the fossil record”, in The Guardian:
- Derived terms
- ammonitic, ammonitiferous, ammonitoid, ammonitologist, ammonitology, neoammonite
ammonite
nounEtymology From ammonium nitrate.
1
An explosive prepared from a mixture of TNT and ammonium nitrate; a form of amatol, popular in Eastern Europe and China.
- Related terms
- amatol, ammonitrate
Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — authors: page histories for Ammonite and ammonite.