mastodon
[ mas-tuh-don ]
/ ˈmæs təˌdɒn /
noun
a massive, elephantlike mammal of the genus Mammut (Mastodon), that flourished worldwide from the Miocene through the Pleistocene epochs and, in North America, into recent times, having long, curved upper tusks and, in the male, short lower tusks.
a person of immense size, power, influence, etc.
Origin of mastodon
1805–15; < New Latin < Greek
mast(ós) breast +
odṓn tooth
OTHER WORDS FROM mastodon
mas·to·don·ic, adjectiveWords nearby mastodon
Example sentences from the Web for mastodonic
He discards lumbering descriptions, antique melodramatics, set developments and dénouements, mastodonic structures.
Unicorns |James HunekerThe diluvian soil of the Michigan Peninsula is thus added to the wide area of the mastodonic period.
Personal Memoirs Of A Residence Of Thirty Years With The Indian Tribes On The American Frontiers |Henry Rowe SchoolcraftThe midget Lawyer looked up in Envy at his mastodonic Acquaintance and sighed.
People You Know |George AdeUpon the mastodonic brow of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce there hangs an official laurel wreath.
Abroad at Home |Julian Street
British Dictionary definitions for mastodonic
mastodon
/ (ˈmæstəˌdɒn) /
noun
any extinct elephant-like proboscidean mammal of the genus Mammut (or Mastodon), common in Pliocene times
Derived forms of mastodon
mastodontic, adjectiveWord Origin for mastodon
C19: from New Latin, literally: breast-tooth, referring to the nipple-shaped projections on the teeth
Scientific definitions for mastodonic
mastodon
[ măs′tə-dŏn′ ]
Any of several extinct mammals of the genus Mastodon (or Mammut). Mastodons resembled elephants and mammoths except that their molar teeth had conelike cusps rather than parallel ridges for grinding. Like elephants, mastodons had a pair of long, curved tusks growing from their upper jaw, but males also sometimes had a second pair from the lower jaw. Like mammoths, mastodons were covered with hair. They lived from the Oligocene Epoch to the end of the Ice Age.