belemnite

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun 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

From Ancient Greek βέλεμνον (bélemnon, “dart, arrow”) + -ite.

They rejoiced with Miss Lever, however, when she secured a fairly intact belemnite. — The Luckiest Girl in the School, Angela Brazil
"I'd almost got the loveliest, biggest belemnite, and it broke into three pieces like a slate pencil." — The Youngest Girl in the Fifth: A School Story, Angela Brazil
It reminded me of a sepia painting I had once seen done from the ink of a fossil Belemnite that must have perished and become fossilised millions of years ago. — The Time Machine, H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

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