Eocene \E"o*cene\, a. [Gr. ? daybreak, dawn + ? new, recent.]

(Geol.) Pertaining to the first in time of the three subdivisions into which the Tertiary formation is divided by geologists, and alluding to the approximation in its life to that of the present era; as, Eocene deposits. -- n. The Eocene formation. --Lyell.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)