Emily Dickinson Lexicon

OS'TE-O-COL, or OS-TE-O-COL'LA, n. [Gr. οστεον, a bone, and κολλα, glue.]

A carbonate of lime, a fossil formed by incrustation on the stem of a plant. It is found in long thick, and irregular cylindric pieces, generally hollow, sometimes filled with calcarious earth, and in size, from that of a crow's quill to that of a man's arm. It is always found in the sand. Nicholson. Encyc. Cleaveland. This word takes its name from an opinion that it has the quality of uniting fractured bones.