Definitions

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

  • noun Any of numerous extinct marine arthropods of the class Trilobita, of the Paleozoic Era, having a segmented body divided by grooves into three longitudinal lobes and found as fossils throughout the world.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Any member of the Trilobita: so called from the three lobes or main divisions of the body—cephalic, thoracic, and abdominal. See Trilobita.

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

  • noun (Paleon.) Any one of numerous species of extinct arthropods belonging to the order Trilobita. Trilobites were very common in the Silurian and Devonian periods, but became extinct at the close of the Paleozoic. So named from the three lobes usually seen on each segment.

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

  • noun biology An extinct arthropod of the class Trilobita, whose body had three large lobes.

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

  • noun an extinct arthropod that was abundant in Paleozoic times; had an exoskeleton divided into three parts

Etymologies

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

[New Latin Trilobītēs, former class name, from Greek trilobos, three-lobed : tri-, tri- + lobos, lobe.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

tri- + lobe + -ite

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Examples

  • A trilobite is a tri-lobed water bugessentially from the prehistoric age, one of the first life forms of it's kind, and a cornerstone of anyone's fossil collection.

    Okay, so it's another day later already!!! Zillabob 2006

  • A trilobite is a tri-lobed water bugessentially from the prehistoric age, one of the first life forms of it's kind, and a cornerstone of anyone's fossil collection.

    Archive 2006-12-01 Zillabob 2006

  • Millstone asked Freshwater several questions about another survey, in which students apparently were shown a prehistoric fossil called a trilobite and asked to describe it.

    dispatch.com: RSS 2009

  • The original Trilobite: The trilobite was a type of arthropod that vacuumed the ocean beds for small animals and particles about 250-560 million years ago.

    HiddenWires News 2008

  • Showed her own questionnaire, she didn’t recall the trilobite exercise.

    Freshwater April 29 & 30: Exploiting kids - The Panda's Thumb 2010

  • Oh, and as promised, here's the "trilobite pr0n" illustration that Vince Locke sent, upon which I based "A Paleozoic Dreamquest."

    "And the world is closing doors." greygirlbeast 2009

  • They start recording tomorrow, and need correct pronunciations for trilobite names.

    "I want to be where I don't need to hide myself..." greygirlbeast 2010

  • Today, I'll be starting a second piece for #45, based on an illustration by Vince Locke (I'll post the illustration tomorrow), but I think we're talking trilobite sex.

    "Put me on the train, send me back to my home.." greygirlbeast 2009

  • Darwin predicted that precursors to the trilobite would be found in pre-Silurian rocks.

    Blast From the Past 2010

  • Darwin predicted that precursors to the trilobite would be found in pre-Silurian rocks … Similarly, Darwin predicted that Precambrian fossils would be found.

    Blast From the Past 2010

Comments

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  • This Wikipedia article is delightfully illustrated. They should make a trilobite coloring book.

    September 3, 2008

  • I'd buy it.

    September 3, 2008