fossil - Dictionary Definition : Vocabulary.com

Fossils are the really, really old remains of a plant or animal — so old they've turned to stone. Fossil is also an insult for an old or old-fashioned person.

Fossils are very important to scientists who study animals: they're one of the ways we learn about the beasts and critters of the past. A fossil is an imprint of the bones of that animal in rock or stone. If you see a reconstruction of a dinosaur in a museum, scientists used fossils to figure out how it should look. Also, calling someone a fossil is like calling them a geezer or old fogey. It's not a compliment.

PRIMARY MEANINGS OF: fossil

1	n adj	the remains (or an impression) of a plant or animal that existed in a past geological age and that has been excavated from the soil characteristic of a fossil
2	n	someone whose style is out of fashion

FULL DEFINITIONS OF: fossil

1

n the remains (or an impression) of a plant or animal that existed in a past geological age and that has been excavated from the soil

Types:: show 6 types...; hide 6 types...; fucoid
a fossilized cast or impression of algae of the order Fucales; belemnite
a conical calcareous fossil tapering to a point at one end and with a conical cavity at the other end containing (when unbroken) a small chambered phragmocone from the shell of any of numerous extinct cephalopods of the family Belemnitidae; ammonite, ammonoid
one of the coiled chambered fossil shells of extinct mollusks; guide fossil, index fossil
a fossil known to have lived in a particular geologic age that can be used to date the rock layer in which it is found; microfossil
a fossil that must be studied microscopically; wormcast
fossil trail of a worm

Type of:: remains
any object that is left unused or still extant

adj characteristic of a fossil

2

n someone whose style is out of fashion

Synonyms:: dodo, fogey, fogy

Type of:: golden ager, old person, oldster, senior citizen
an elderly person