Ever wonder what the word "littoral" means?

[Renew Deal]

I've seen lots of posts about "Littoral Combat Ships" and wondered what the word "littoral" meant. Here's the definition.

Littoral

lit·to·ral
[lit-er-uhl] Show IPA

adjective
1. of or pertaining to the shore of a lake, sea, or ocean.

2. (on ocean shores) of or pertaining to the biogeographic region between the sublittoral zone and the high-water line and sometimes including the supralittoral zone above the high-water line.

3. of or pertaining to the region of freshwater lake beds from the sublittoral zone up to and including damp areas on shore. Compare intertidal.

noun
4. a littoral region.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Origin:
1650–60; < Latin littorālis, variant of lītorālis of the shore, equivalent to lītor- (stem of lītus ) shore + -ālis -al1

Can be confused: literal, littoral.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Littoral