corallite
(ˈkɒrəlaɪt)
[f. L. corall-um + -ite.]
1. A fossil coral.
| 1815 W. Phillips Outl. Min. & Geol. (1818) 141 Petrifactions of marine animals as corallites, enchrinites, pentacrinites. 1834 Beckford Italy I. 364 Squabbles arise about the genus of a coralite. |
2. = corallet.
| 1861 J. R. Greene Man. Anim. Kingd., Cœlent. 155 So..may the fully developed sclerodermic corallum consist of a single ‘corallite’ or of several connected by a ‘cœnenchyma’. 1877 Huxley Anat. Inv. Anim. iii. 155 The skeleton thus formed, freed of its soft parts, is a ‘cup-coral’, and receives the name of a corallite. |
3. Corallitic or coralline marble.
| 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 78 Cutlery..Mounted in Rock Coralite and Pearl and Ivory Handles. |