Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of numerous chiefly marine protozoans of the order (or phylum) Foraminifera, characteristically having a calcareous shell with perforations through which numerous pseudopods protrude. The shells accumulate on the ocean floor as sediment.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One of the Foraminifera.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) One of the Foraminifera.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any of several large marine protozoans, of the subphylum Foraminifera, that have a calcareous shell with many holes through which pseudopodia protrude

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun marine microorganism having a calcareous shell with openings where pseudopods protrude

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From New Latin Forāminifera, order name : Latin forāmen, forāmin-, an opening + Latin -fer, -fer.]

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Examples

  • Relative abundance variations of the planktic foraminifer Globigerinoides sacculifer and àƒÅ½à‚ⲱ8O measured G. ruber white variety in core PBBC1 plotted against calibrated years.

    Gulf of Mexico SST Proxy « Climate Audit 2007

  • Steve M., some months back I linked to a California Current foraminifer study that showed things as fairly flat there through the MWP and LIA.

    Allen and the "Cool" Medieval Pacific « Climate Audit 2006

  • (H) Abundances of the foraminifer Globigerina bulloides in Cariaco Basin sediments are higher during glacial advances indicating stronger trade winds (20).

    LIA and MWP in Venezuela « Climate Audit 2006

  • The biological response to the monsoonal activity in the surface water column is preserved as increased abundance of the planktic foraminifer Globigerina bulloides…Advantages of this proxy are (1) its unique association with the summer monsoon (G. bulloides has a subpolar habitat and would be absent in the tropics except for wind-driven upwelling), (2) linear correlation with the surface cooling due to upwelling, apparently unbiased by other influences

    Moberg #5: Arabian Sea glob. bulloides « Climate Audit 2005

  • It may seem a small thing to admit that the dull vital actions of a fungus, or a foraminifer, are the properties of their protoplasm, and are the direct results of the nature of the matter of which they are composed.

    Autobiography and Selected Essays 2003

  • It may seem a small thing to admit that the dull vital actions of a fungus, or a foraminifer, are the properties of their protoplasm, and are the direct results of the nature of the matter of which they are composed.

    Autobiography and Selected Essays Huxley, Thomas Henry, 1825-1895 1909

  • It may seem a small thing to admit that the dull vital actions of a fungus, or a foraminifer, are the properties of their protoplasm, and are the direct results of the nature of the matter of which they are composed.

    Lay Sermons, Addresses and Reviews Thomas Henry Huxley 1860

  • It may seem a small thing to admit that the dull vital actions of a fungus, or a foraminifer, are the properties of their protoplasm, and are the direct results of the nature of the matter of which they are composed.

    Lectures and Essays Thomas Henry Huxley 1860

  • It may seem a small thing to admit that the dull vital actions of a fungus, or a foraminifer, are the properties of their protoplasm, and are the direct results of the nature of the matter of which they are composed.

    Autobiography and Selected Essays Thomas Henry Huxley 1860

  • These micro-organisms are found in just a few pieces of amber among the thousands that have been studied, but show a remarkable diversity: unicellular algae, mainly diatoms found in large numbers, traces of animal plankton, such as radiolaria and a foraminifer, spiny skeletons of sponges and of echinoderms.

    Signs of the Times 2008

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