falciferous

English

Etymology

From Latin falx (“sickle”) +‎ -i- +‎ -ferous (“-bearing”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: fălsĭʹfərəs, IPA^(key): /fælˈsɪfəɹəs/

Adjective

falciferous (not comparable)

1. (rare) Sickle-bearing.
   • 1856, The Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, volume 12, page 306:

     The stinted growth of the stationary Conchifera forms a striking contrast with the size and number of the Cephalopoda interred with them in the same bed; in fact the dawning existence of these Conchifera appears to have been a struggle for life, whilst the conditions of the closing scene of the Belemnites, Nautili, and falciferous Ammonites, were favourable to their continuance in time, but abruptly brought to a termination by some great physical change which took place about the commencement of the deposition of the oolitic formations.

   • 1871, John Phillips, Geology of Oxford and the Valley of the Thames, Clarendon Press, page 132:

     The third group is continued into the sands which cap the upper lias, and into strata a little above them, which constitute the lower part of the inferior oolite of Dundry. Even in the Stonesfield slate we find falciferous ammonites.

   • 1875, The Annals and Magazine of Natural History: Zoology, Botany, and Geology, page 33:

     More or less falciferous — that is, united to t’ shaft by an arched web-like expansion. Separate or webbed together umbrella-like.

   • 1895, Geologists’ Association, Proceedings, volume 13, page 37:

     This form of suture is seen even in the falciferous Ammonites of the Cretaceous, which can scarcely perhaps, be genetically connected with […]

   • 1920: Imperial Bureau of Entomology, The Review of Applied Entomology: Agricultural, volume VIII, page 212 (Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux)

     […] (oblong scale), abundant throughout the south and especially in the Gironde region; Pulvinaria vitis (red scale) and Pseudococcus (Dactylopius) vitis (white scale) foung throughout the Mediterranean basin; Eulecanium (Lecanium) corni, found only in the north; Aulacaspis (Diaspis) pentagona; and the falciferous scale [Rhizoecus falcifer, Künek.] which lives on the roots.

   • 1946: Iowa State College Journal of Science, volume 21, page 400 (Iowa State College Press)

     A[stragalus] falciferous Hult.

   • 1975: Polska Akademia Nauk Komitet Geologiczny, Acta Geologica Polonica, volume 25, page 118 (Panstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe)

     Internal morphology: Dental lamellae short, slightly recurved and close to the valve sides. Teeth broad with crenulation or notch denticle developed. Cardinal plates broad, ventrally convex, merging in inner socket ridges. Crural bases have long dorsal and short ventral ends. Crura broad, falciferous. Low dorsal euseptum developed (Fig. 2).

References

• Thomas Blount’s Glossographia (1656–81)
• Elisha Coles’s English Dictionary (1692–1732)
• “FALCIFʹEROUS” listed in John Ash’s New and Complete Dictionary of the English Language (1775)
    FALCIFʹEROUS (adj. from the Lat. falx a hook, and fero to bear, but not much uſed) Bearing a hook, carrying a bill.
• “Falciferous” listed on page 212 of Arnold James Cooley’s Dictionary of English Language (1861)
    Falciferous, făl-sĭfʹ-ĕr-ŭs, a. Sickle-bearing; falciform.
• “falˈciferous, a.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989]