encrinite Zool. and Geol.
(ˈɛnkrɪnaɪt)
[f. encrin-us + -ite.]
A fossil crinoid; formerly sometimes extended to crinoids generally.
| 1808 Parkinson Organ. Rem. II. 153 (in Rees). 1819 Rees Cycl., Encrinites, a kind of columnar extraneous or organized fossil. 1835 Kirby Hab. & Inst. Anim. II. xiii. 10 A tribe of plant-like animals..which, from a supposed resemblance..to the blossom of a liliaceous plant have been denominated Encrinites. 1854 F. C. Bakewell Geol. 30 The prevailing characteristic fossils being encrinites and madrepores. 1880 Geikie Phys. Geog. iv. §21. 191 A piece of limestone is..made up of the crowded joints of the encrinite or stone-lily—a marine animal. |
| attrib. 1822 G. Young Geol. Surv. Yorksh. Coast (1828) 21 Masses of the encrinite limestone. 1847 E. Forbes in Wilson & Geikie Mem. xii. (1861) 413, I went to seek out the localities for the encrinite heads. |