Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun obsolete A taxonomic genus within the family Mammutidae — the mastodon, a type of mammoth; replaced by Mammut.
  • noun A nickname for both the 4-8-0 and (though incorrectly) the 4-10-0 train configurations.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Coined by Georges Cuvier, from Ancient Greek μαστός (mastos, "breast") + ὀδούς (odous, "tooth"), from the similarity of the mammilloid projections on the crowns of the extinct mammal's molars.

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