[f. FOSSIL sb. + -ISM.]
1. The scientific study of fossils. rare–1.
1796. Coleridge, in J. Cottle, Early Recollect. (1837), I. 192. I would thoroughly understand Mechanics; Hydrostatics; Optics, and Astronomy; Botany; Metallurgy; Fossilism; Chemistry; Geology; Anatomy; Medicine; then the mind of man; then the minds of men; in all Travels, Voyages, and Histories.
2. The state of being a fossil, the character or nature of a fossil.
1861. Med. Times, 18 May, 526/1. Disappointed, presumptuous precocity may talk of superfluous laggards and obstructive fossilism, but what committee would like to entrust an establishment, for the welfare of which they are responsible, to the restless, reckless, unbalanced judgment of an entirely young staff of officials?
