calcareous

Learned borrowing from Latin calcārius (“of or pertaining to lime”), derived from calx (“lime”). Similar to calcium.

• IPA^(key): /kælˈkɛəɹiəs/

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calcareous (comparative more calcareous, superlative most calcareous)

1. Resembling or containing calcium carbonate or limestone; chalky.
   • 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 15:

     The traveller from the coast, who, after plodding northward for a score of miles over calcareous downs and corn-lands, suddenly reaches the verge of one of these escarpments[.]

   • 1957, Sidney Frederic Harmer, The Polyzoa of the Siboga Expedition, page 1106:

     Cellariiform, the orifices nearly confined to the convex frontal and lateral surfaces; the basal surface with a strong median calcareous keel, almost concealed by a flat membranous epitheca, which covers the whole zoarium […]

   • 2024 March 20, Chris Howe, “High speed underneath the Chilterns...”, in RAIL, number 1005, page 33:

     Instead, the spoil will be used in part to create 127 hectares of new calcareous grassland (alkaline grassland), woodland, wood pasture, and wetland habitats.

• calcareous sponge

• calciferous