Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The science of all that is dug up, whether organic or inorganic: formerly specifically applied to that part of geology which treats of fossils (paleontology).
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun An old name for paleontology.
- noun An old name for mineralogy and geology.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun obsolete
paleontology - noun obsolete
mineralogy andgeology
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Ancient Greek
Support
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Examples
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"Hence the order he proposed to follow was not that commonly followed in treatises on oryctology, namely, systematic, following the classes and the orders of the animal and vegetable kingdom, but in a chronological order, in such a way as to show that the classes, so far as it was possible to conjecture with any probability, were established after or in consequence of the different revolutions of the earth.
chained_bear commented on the word oryctology
"Now hist. and rare. The branch of science concerned with rocks, minerals, and fossils dug out of the earth." (OED)
September 9, 2008
Prolagus commented on the word oryctology
Same root as Oryctolagus, the genus of the European rabbit.
September 9, 2008