relict
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɹɛlɪkt/
Forms: form: relicts
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English relicte (“widow”), from Middle French relicte (“widow”), from Late Latin relicta (“widow”), from Latin relictus, past participle of relinquō (“I abandon, I relinquish, I leave (behind)”), from re- + linquō (“I leave, quit, forsake, depart from”). Doublet of relic, derelict, and relinquish.
Senses: examples: text: Upon which the Chancellor, by way of note said, 'it is suggested, that there is a relict of the deceased, married to another man, who has joined her in a power of attorney to authorize the sale of her interest, […]'
ref: 1801, Reports of cases decided in the High court of Chancery of Maryland, volume 3, page 268:
text: But I am not the penniless nonentity I was when we first met; I can offer an honorable if not a brilliant marriage; and at the very lowest I can provide my wife – my widow, my relict – with a decent competence, an assured future.
ref: 1973, Patrick O'Brian, HMS Surprise:
glosses: Something that, or someone who, survives or remains or is left over after the loss of others; a relic.
The surviving member of a married couple after one or the other has died; a widow or widower.
examples: text: […] a continental northern Alaskan element, including a series of endemic species and disjuncts that have survived the Pleistocene glaciation in northern Alaska and thus represent relicts of the much warmer Tertiary […]
ref: 1966 October, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume I, New York, N.Y.; London: Columbia University Press, →OCLC, page 4:
text: The species may be a relict of former stages of historical vegetation and landscape development resulting from past climate changes (glacial and post- glacial periods).
ref: 2010, M. Zimmerman et al., edited by Jan Christian Habel and Thorsten Assmann, Relict Species: Phylogeography and Conservation Biology, page 324:
topics: biology
ecology
natural-sciences
glosses: Something that, or someone who, survives or remains or is left over after the loss of others; a relic.
A species, organism, or ecosystem that has survived from a previous age: one that was once widespread but is now found only in a few areas.
examples: text: Dark rims around the pillows are caused by glaucophane enrichment, possibly a relict of a primary interaction between basalt and seawater, causing Na- enrichment in the original glass crust of the pillows.
ref: 2011, Mark Keiter, Chris Ballhaus, Frank Tomaschek, A New Geological Map of the Island of Syros (Aegean Sea, Greece), page 16:
topics: geography
geology
natural-sciences
glosses: Something that, or someone who, survives or remains or is left over after the loss of others; a relic.
A structure or other feature that has survived from a previous age.
examples: text: A small number of linguists believe that Cimbrian is not an Austro-Bavarian dialect but a relict of Lombardic.
topics: human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
glosses: Something that, or someone who, survives or remains or is left over after the loss of others; a relic.
A survival of an archaic word, language or other form.