coralloid, a. and n.
(ˈkɒrəlɔɪd)
[f. L. corrall-um coral + -oid: in mod.F. coralloïde.]
A. adj. Having the form or appearance of coral; akin to coral.
| 1604 Phil. Trans. XXV. 1606 Fossil Corolloid Bodies. 1775 Pennant ibid. XLIX. 513 The greatest magazine of coralloid fossils, that I am acquainted with. 1874 Lyell Elem. Geol. xiii. 178 From the abundance of these ‘coralloid’ mollusca the..White Crag obtained its popular name of Coralline Crag; but true corals, as now defined, are very rare in this formation. |
B. n. Any organism resembling or akin to coral; = coralline1 2.
| 1748 Phil. Trans. XLV. 646 Some resembled Pearl-Necklaces and were a kind of microscopical Coralloids. 1791 E. Darwin Bot. Gard. i. 32 Notes, Other marine animals called coralloids raised walls and even mountains by the congeries of their calcareous habitations. |