Learned borrowing fromLatincalcārius(“of or pertaining to lime”), derived fromcalx(“lime”). Similar tocalcium.
calcareous (comparativemorecalcareous,superlativemostcalcareous)
- Resembling or containingcalcium carbonate orlimestone;chalky.
1891,Thomas Hardy,Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page15:The traveller from the coast, who, after plodding northward for a score of miles overcalcareous downs and corn-lands, suddenly reaches the verge of one of these escarpments[.]
1957, Sidney Frederic Harmer,The Polyzoa of the Siboga Expedition, page1106:Cellariiform, the orifices nearly confined to the convex frontal and lateral surfaces; the basal surface with a strong mediancalcareous keel, almost concealed by a flat membranous epitheca, which covers the whole zoarium[…]
2024 March 20, Chris Howe, “High speed underneath the Chilterns...”, inRAIL, number1005, page33:Instead, the spoil will be used in part to create 127 hectares of newcalcareous grassland (alkaline grassland), woodland, wood pasture, and wetland habitats.
resembling or containing limestone
