[f. L. corall-um + -ITE.]
1. A fossil coral.
1815. W. Phillips, Outl. Min. & Geol. (1818), 141. Petrifactions of marine animals as corallites, enchrinites, pentacrinites.
1834. Beckford, Italy, I. 364. Squabbles arise about the genus of a coralite.
2. = CORALLET.
1861. J. R. Greene, Man. Anim. Kingd., Cœlent., 155. So … may the fully developed sclerodermic corallum consist of a single ‘corallite’ or of several connected by a ‘cœnenchyma.’
1877. Huxley, Anat. Inv. Anim., iii. 155. The skeleton thus formed, freed of its soft parts, is a ‘cup-coral,’ and receives the name of a corallite.
3. Corallitic or coralline marble.
1883. Fisheries Exhib. Catal., 73. Cutlery … Mounted in Rock Coralite and Pearl and Ivory Handles.
