Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of several very large, extinct proboscidian mammals of the genus Mammut (sometimes Mastodon), resembling the elephant but having molar teeth of a different structure.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An extinct proboscidean quadruped of the family Elephantidæ and subfamily Mastodontinæ. Several genera and rather numerous species have been discovered in Tertiary deposits of most parts of the world, in some cases associated with those of the mammoth. One of the largest and best-known of these is the American Mastodon giganteus, which survived to a late Pleistocene period. A specimen nearly perfect was found in Missouri in 1840; it is now in the British museum, and its dimensions are—extreme length 20 feet 2 inches; height 9 feet 6¼ inches; cranium, length 3⅓ feet, width 2 feet 11 inches; tusks, extreme length 7 feet 2 inches, circumference at base 27 inches. See cut on following page.
- n. [capitalized] The typical genus of Mastodontinæ, formerly held to include all the mastodons, now restricted to those of the tetralophodont series, such as M. avernensis of Europe.
Wiktionary
- n. Extinct elephant-like mammal of the genus Mammut that flourished worldwide from Miocene through Pleistocene times; differs from elephants and mammoths in the form of molar teeth.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Paleon.) An extinct genus of mammals closely allied to the elephant, but having less complex molar teeth, and often a pair of lower, as well as upper, tusks, which are incisor teeth. The species were mostly larger than elephants, and their remains occur in nearly all parts of the world in deposits ranging from Miocene to late Quaternary time.
WordNet 3.0
Etymologies
- First attested 1813, from the New Latin genus name Mastodon (1806), 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. (Wiktionary)
- New Latin Mastodōn, genus name : Greek mastos, breast, nipple + Greek odōn, odont-, tooth (from the nipple-shaped protrusions on the crowns of its molars); see dent- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“You wouldn't have us call a mastodon like that Fanny, would you, or Tatters?”
“A mastodon is the more amazing animal too, isn't it?”
“The mastodon was a relatively squat creature, standing certainly four feet shorter than the imperial elephant, with comparatively small and slightly curved tusks and a flatter head.”
VIII. Primeval Man; and the Horse, the Lion, and the Elephant
“The mastodon was a giant elephant of a still earlier period than the mammoth.”
“Workers started by removing the front and hind legs from the mastodon, which is supported by a steel bracket.”
“The mastodon was a contemporary of saber-toothed cats.”
“Instead of a lower jaw a foot long, as in an elephant or in the common kind of mastodon -- this long-jawed kind had a lower jaw 5 feet or 6 feet long!”
“It appears that he slew also a notable dun cow, of a kind of mastodon breed, which prevailed in those early days, which was making great havoc in the neighborhood.”
“A mastodon is a much older species, a third cousin once removed.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘mastodon’.
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Gene Wolfe
Please contribute your favorite words from any of Gene Wolfe’s books to this prize-winning list.
In case you come across words in this list which are too commonplace to fit in, please ...gallipot, roost, badelaire, oblesque, execration, dhole, amschaspand, arctother, chalcedony, penitence, asimi, autarch and 839 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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Band or Brand?
Band names that are also common words or phrases.
genesis, who, beatles, journey, germs, sublime, doors, cars, nirvana, bangles, tool, pixies and 192 more...
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Les Misérables
A selection of words from the epic by Victor Hugo
perquisites, dispensations, execrate, spikenard, fireplaace, effeminate foppery, delaine, hoarfrost, lackadaisicalness, ort, geldings, milch and 103 more...
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Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV
Words from the songs of Frank Black, a.k.a. Black Francis
zugzwang, valhalla, montalvo, ishist, tritons, mosh, siam, llano del rio, protohuman, tumbleweeds, ludwigshafen, ballyhoos and 349 more...
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the first list
an immense, grandiloquent list that loads like a thousand years sentence in stone. new words are in the other lists.
ridiculous, brummagem, predicament, sanctimonious, vapid, eschew, admonish, auspicious, capitulation, enumerate, lachrymose, tenet and 1648 more...
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Favorite Tangible Object Words
Trimming the "Chained Bear's Favorites" list so I don't crash people's computers... like my own...
castanets, whaup, budgie, wallabies, ring-wraith, hobbit, chinchilla, guano, merganser, phalarope, phalarope, curlew and 138 more...
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jagosaurus's favorites
Words I like mostly because of the way they sound and feel.
ticonderoga, petulance, snark, estimable, chickahominy, feline, gezellig, gneiss, shit, willy-nilly, shelter, coda and 366 more...
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dyy's Words
ambivalence, irony, double-edged sword, paradox, struggle, plunge, buoy, pigeon-hole, ultimately, status quo, fuel, undermine and 230 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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odonto-, -odon, -odont
relating to a tooth or teeth; having teeth of a particular type
mastodon, odontophore, odontology, macrodont, odontoblast, orthodontist
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Journey to the Centre of the Earth
From the story by Jules Verne.
rhombohedral crys..., retinasphaltic re..., gehlenites, Fassaites, molybdenites, tungstates, manganese, titanite, zirconium, disenchant, mignonette, bibliomania and 101 more...
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Prehistoric and Extinct Mammals 'n' S...
Excuse our dust while we renovate to serve you better.
aepycamelus, adapid, archaeocete, zygorhiza, zalambdalestes, woolly rhino, coelodonta, woolly mammoth, ausktribosphenos, uintatherium, trilophodon, trigonias and 126 more...
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Skip The Light Fontastic
Fonts whose names are wacky, powerful, intriguing, whimsical, exotic and so on.
buttzilla, consolas, trebuchet, chanticleer, earthpig, dwarves, ciao, ghost town, goodfish, i still know, gorilla milkshake, immoral and 212 more...
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Words that kick serious ass
juggernaut, haymaker, gung-ho, frag, smite, blunderbuss, gargantuan, ragnarok, ripsnorter, herculean, silverback, firebrand and 127 more...
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SomeOldDoor's list
Lovely words.
clover, cedar, bromide, glyph, belfry, glance, vehemently, well, flourish, plaintive, clarion, element and 169 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for mastodon.
chained_bear Mastodons "resembled, but were distinct from, the woolly mammoth, which belongs to the family Elephantidae. Mastodons were browsers, while mammoths were grazers." (Wikipedia)
Sep 3, 2008