ammonite

noun

1. Any of an extinct group of cephalopods of the subclass Ammonoidea; a fossil shell of such an animal.

   “There's more interest to my mind in a neolithic scraper than in a whole show-case-full of ammonites and belemnites.”

   “Ammonites floated through the world's shallow oceans for more than three hundred million years, and their fossilized shells turn up all around the world.”

   “There are a few well known shelled giant cephalopods from the fossil record. Some of the largest recorded ammonites are in the genus Parapuzosia, fossils of which reach up to 2m in diameter.”

2. (uncountable)An explosive prepared from a mixture of TNT and ammonium nitrate; a form of amatol, popular in Eastern Europe and China.
3. A native or inhabitant of Ammon.

adj

1. (not-comparable)Of or pertaining to the Ammonites.

name

1. The extinct Canaanite language of the Ammonite people who used to live in modern-day northwest Jordan, and after whom its capital Amman is named. Extinct since 5th century BCE.