Eocene, a. Geol.
(ˈiːəsiːn)
[f. Gr. ἠώ-ς dawn (see eo-) + καινός new, recent.]
1. The epithet applied to the lowest division of the Tertiary strata, and to the geological period which they represent.
| 1831 W. Whewell Let. (1876) II. 111, I propose for your four terms 1 acene, 2 eocene, 3 miocene, 4 pliocene. 1833 Lyell Princ. Geol. (ed. 2) III. 54 The period next antecedent we shall call Eocene. 1851 Richardson Geol. vii. 174 The eocene group is characterised by a total absence of cycadeæ. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 214 The Eocene rocks once spread over the whole surface of this chalk. |
| fig. 1856 Darwin Let. 17 June (1887) II. 73 His Geology also is rather eocene as I told him. 1864 Lowell Fireside Trav. 103 These eocene periods of the day are not fitted for sustaining the human forms of life. 1870 Daily Tel. 22 Sept., Its deep roots shot back into the eocene strata of civilisation. |
2. quasi-n.| 1851 Richardson Geol. xi. 370, 1. Upper Eocene. 2. Middle Eocene. 3. Lower Eocene. |
| fig. 1877 Blackmore Erema II. xxxvi. 221 The calm deep eocene of British rural mind. |