Laurentian

adjective

Lau·​ren·​tian

lȯˈrench(ē)ən

1

a

: of, relating to, or located near the Saint Lawrence River

Laurentian hills

b

: of or relating to mountain-making movements of the Archean era

Collision doesn't explain the Laurentian rocks, because they show no sign of originating in an area that was being squeezed.

—Richard Monastersky, Science News, 3 June 1989

c

: of, relating to, or being the prehistoric Laurentia land mass

If the northern Piedmont is allochthonous, just as its southern counterpart in South Carolina appears to be … it could be of Laurentian, Gondwanan, or Armorican origin.

—Rob Van der Voo, Annual Review of Earth, 1982

2

: of or relating to D. H. Lawrence

Richard Aldington, Lawrence's best biographer and one of his best critics, points out somewhere that the Joycean and Laurentian approaches to art and life are totally opposed.

—Anthony Burgess, New York Times Book Review, 14 July 1985

Word History

Etymology

Latin Laurentius Lawrence (in sense 1 representing the St. Lawrence River, southern Quebec and southeast Ontario, Canada, and in sense 2 representing D. H. Lawrence †1930 English novelist) + English -an

First Known Use

1863, in the meaning defined at sense 1b

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