Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The typical genus of Labyrintho- dontidæ, containing certain fossil amphibians whose teeth have the enamel folded and sunk inward and are labyrinthine in structure, whence the name. Remains referred to this genus have been found in the Carboniferous, Permian, and Triassic formations. The name has been used with much latitude.
- n. A member of the genus Labyrinthodon or order Labyrin-thodontia; any labyrinthodont.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A genus of very large fossil amphibians, of the Triassic period, having bony plates on the under side of the body. It is the type of the order Labyrinthodonta. Called also Mastodonsaurus.
Examples
“The teeth of the labyrinthodon, the hand of the potto, the whalebone of whales, the wings of birds, the climbing tendrils of some plants, &c. have also been adduced as instances of structures, the origin and production of which are probably due rather to considerable modifications than to minute increments.”
“The labyrinthodon evidently thought that Ja was coming to double his portion of human flesh, so he was in no haste to pursue me to the cliff and frighten away this other tidbit.”
“I have been to other lands, discovered a new race of humans within Pellucidar, seen the Mahars at their worship in their hidden temple, and barely escaped with my life from them and from a great labyrinthodon that I met afterward, following my long and tedious wanderings across an unknown world.”
“He ought rather to come out in the character of a ceratodus or a labyrinthodon.”
Falling in Love With Other Essays on More Exact Branches of Science
Lists
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chained_bear Also labyrinthodont. "An obsolete term for any member of an extinct superorder or subclass of amphibians... of late paleozoic and early mesozoic times." (Wikipedia) Sep 4, 2008