a. rare. [f. ANTE- + diluvi-um deluge + -AL 1.] Applied by Buckland to geological formations older than the ‘diluvial’ (then attributed to the Noachian deluge).
1823. Buckland, Reliq. Diluv., 2. I have felt myself fully justified in applying the epithet … antediluvial to the state of things immediately preceding it [this great convulsion].
1827. Edin. Rev., XLV. 317. The ante-diluvial rocks have a more compact stony aspect.
