carboniferous

adjective

1. noting or pertaining to a period of the Paleozoic Era, including the Pennsylvanian and Mississippian periods as epochs, occurring from 345 million to 280 million years ago.
2. (lowercase) producing carbon or coal.

noun

3. the Carboniferous Period or System.

adjective

1. yielding coal or carbon

adjective

1. of, denoting, or formed in the fifth period of the Palaeozoic era, between the Devonian and Permian periods, lasting for nearly 64 million years during which coal measures were formed

noun

2. the Carboniferous the Carboniferous period or rock system

adj.

1830 with reference the geological period, from a word formed in English in 1799 to mean “coal-bearing,” from Latin carbo (genitive carbonis) “coal” (see carbon) + -ferous “producing, containing, bearing,” from ferre “to bear” (see infer). The great coal beds of Europe were laid down during this period. As a stand-alone noun (short for Carboniferous Period) from 1940s.

1. The period of geologic time from about 360 to 286 million years ago. The term is used throughout the world, although this period of time has been separated into the Mississippian (lower Carboniferous) and Pennsylvanian (upper Carboniferous) in the United States. During this time, widespread swamps formed in which plant remains accumulated and later hardened into coal. See Chart at geologic time.