'Cretaceous period' definitions:
Definition of 'Cretaceous period'
From: WordNet
noun
From 135 million to 63 million years ago; end of the age of reptiles; appearance of modern insects and flowering plants [syn: Cretaceous, Cretaceous period]
Definition of 'Cretaceous period'
From: GCIDE
- Cretacic \Cre*tac"ic\ [Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]
- Cretaceous acid, an old name for carbonic acid.
- Cretaceous formation (Geol.), the series of strata of various kinds, including beds of chalk, green sand, etc., formed in the Cretaceous period; -- called also the {chalk formation}. See the Diagram under Geology.
- Cretaceous period (Geol.), the time in the latter part of the Mesozoic age during which the Cretaceous formation was deposited, and at the end of which the dinosaurs died out. See Cretaceous. [1913 Webster +PJC]