Fôs'sil1, a.
a. [Fr. & It. fossile, Sp. fossil, Lat. fossilis, from fodere, fossum, to dig.]
- Dug out of the earth; as, fossil coal; fossil salt.
- Pertaining to, or resembling, fossils; changed into stone; petrified; as, fossil shells, bones, or wood.
Fossil copal, a kind of resinous substance, first found in the blue clay at Highgate, near London, and apparently a vegetable resin, partly changed by remaining in the earth.