abyssal, a.
(əˈbɪsəl)
[ad. late L. abyssāl-is of or belonging to an abyss, f. abyss-us; see abyss and -al1.]
Of unsearchable depth, unfathomable; belonging to the lowest depths of ocean. abyssal zone, the bottom strata of the sea, the belt of water below 300 fathoms.
| 1691 Behmen Theosoph. Philos. 42 Whose immensity is Abyssal. 1752 W. Law Spir. of Love (1816) ii. 66 God is an abyssal infinity of love, wisdom, & goodness. 1830 Lyell Princ. Geol. (1875) II. iii. xlix. 589 The Coral fauna of the deep and abyssal sea. 1872 Nicholson Palæont. 23 The abyssal mud of the Atlantic is to a very large extent composed of the microscopic shells of Foraminifera. |