▪ I. Amazonian, a. and n.
(æməˈzəʊnɪən)
[f. L. amazoni-us + -an.]
A. adj.
1. Of, pertaining to, resembling, or befitting the Amazons or an Amazon; warlike, or masculine, as a woman.
| 1594 2nd Pt. Contention (1843) 131 To triumph like an Amazonian trull Vpon his woes. 1609 C. Butler Fem. Mon. (1634) 64 These Amazonian dames begin to wax weary of their mates. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 104 ¶3 This Amazonian Hunting-Habit for Ladies. 1837 W. Howitt Rur. Life iii. vi. (1862) 285 His amazonian lady, half the head taller than himself. 1844 Blackw. Mag. LVI. 214 Caps were dragged off, and nails shown with amazonian spirit. |
2. Of the river Amazon (so called from the female warriors there seen by the Spaniards), or its basin.
| 1863 Bates Nat. on Amazons i. 10 The only Amazonian species. 1875 Blackie's Pop. Encycl. 133/1 The Amazonian water system. |
B. n. An Amazon (fabulous).
| a 1704 T. Brown Drunkenness Wks. 1730 I. 37 His Hydra, and Amazonians, and the hellish Cerberus. |
▪ II. Amazonian, a.2 and n.2 Astron.
Brit. /ˌaməˈzəʊnɪən/, U.S. /ˌæməˈzoʊniən/
[‹ Amazonis, the name of an area of Mars (named in Italian form Amazonide by G. V. Schiaparelli 1878, in Atti della Reale Accademia dei Lincei: Mem. della Classe di Sci. Fis., Mat. e Nat. 2 375), where features of this age are prominent + -ian suffix, after Amazonian adj.1]
A. adj. Relating to or designating the most recent of three geological time periods assigned to Mars, which began some 2 to 3 billion years ago; (also) designating the geomorphological features dating from this period, which are varied but include a low number of meteorite impact craters. Cf. Hesperian adj.2, Noachian adj.2
| 1978 D. H. Scott & M. H. Carr Geologic Map Mars Channel deposits transect Amazonian cratered plains. 1984 NASA Techn. Memorandum 86246 296 The youngest martian materials (Amazonian System)..consist of lava and pyroclastic flows. 1986 Jrnl. Geophysical Res. B 91 e143/1 Smooth plains material in Amazonis Planitia, which characterizes the Amazonian System..was shown to be composed of five overlapping members. 2003 Planetary & Space Sci. 52 13 Terrains ranging from Noachian highland..to Amazonian smooth plains. |
B. n. The Amazonian period. Cf. Hesperian n.2, Noachian n.
| 1978 D. H. Scott & M. H. Carr Geologic Map Mars The prominent topographically fresh volcanoes of the Tharsis region..are..assigned..to the Amazonian. 1986 Jrnl. Geophysical Res. B 91 e154/2 During the Early Amazonian, large floods..and lava flows emanated from the northwestern Elysium Fossae into Utopia Planitia. 1990 Icarus 88 465 Crater frequencies and stratigraphic relations indicate that the unit is very young—Upper Amazonian. 2000 Science (Nexis) 8 Dec. 1927 The Noachian is regarded here to have occurred before 3.5 billion years ago, and the Amazonian, after anywhere from 3.5 to 1.8 billion years ago. |