The Collaborative International Dictionary
Carboniferous \Car`bon*if"er*ous\ (k[aum]r`b[o^]n*[i^]f"[~e]r*[u^]s), a. [Carbon + -ferous.] Producing or containing carbon or coal.
Carboniferous age (Geol.), the age immediately following the Devonian, or Age of fishes, and characterized by the vegetation which formed the coal beds. This age embraces three periods, the Subcarboniferous, the Carboniferous, and Permian. See Age of acrogens, under Acrogen.
Carboniferous formation (Geol.), the series of rocks (including sandstones, shales, limestones, and conglomerates, with beds of coal) which make up the strata of the Carboniferous age or Carboniferous period. See the Diagram under Geology.
Usage examples of "carboniferous age".
No oil left, no coal left - if Mars ever had a Carboniferous Age - and no water-power - just the driblets of energy they can get from the sun.
But put him back in the Carboniferous Age and he wouldn't think any better than a dinosaur.
But put him back in the Carboniferous Age and he wouldnt think any better than a dinosaur.
Thus conversing we followed the intricate trail toward the temple, which we came upon in a small clearing surrounded by enormous trees similar to those which must have flourished upon the outer crust during the carboniferous age.
When carbon dioxide concentration goes up as a result of volcanic action, the planet heats up a bit and you have a carboniferous age with oceans high and land surface at a minimum.
At last his ambition goes beyond his personal life and readies toward the black abysses of hereditary memory -- even back to pre-human days amidst the steaming swamps of the carboniferous age, and to still more unimaginable deeps of primal time and entity.