dinosaur

Definition

Any of the animals belonging to the clade Dinosauria, especially those that existed during the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods and are now extinct.

Etymology

From Ancient Greek δεινός (deinós, “terrible, awesome, mighty, fearfully great”) + σαῦρος (saûros, “lizard, reptile”). Coined as Dinosaur(s) and Dinosauria by paleontologist Richard Owen in 1841/1842.

Example Sentences

• ""Not a bird, my dear Roxton - not a bird." "A beast?" "No; a reptile - a dinosaur.""
• "‘Dinosaur!’ Denham exploded. ‘By the Power! A dinosaur!’"
• "[The OS/360 linkage editor] is the culmination of years of development of static overlay technique. Yet it is also the last and finest of the dinosaurs, for it belongs to a system in which multiprogramming is the normal mode and dynamic core allocation the basic assumption."