pterodactyl

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“
But science has become strangely separated from the mere news and scandal of flowers and birds; men have ceased to see that a pterodactyl was as fresh and natural as a flower, that a flower is as monstrous as a pterodactyl.

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Definitions (3)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun Any of various small, mostly tailless, extinct flying reptiles of the order Pterosauria that existed during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

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Examples (50)

  • Hard enough that I made a loud thud akin to a large bird (like a pterodactyl) flying into a window.
  • Some T. rex would grab her, or a pterodactyl would carry her off, or she'd fall off a cliff It had to be depressing, to put it mildly. —  Asimov's SF, October-November2006
  • It grew larger; it was as large as a pterodactyl, bearing down on them with the force of that hundred-mile wind behind it. —  Astounding Stories January, 1935
  • A pterodactyl--one of the horrors which had disabled their plane Wildly, Renny flung up his gun But before he could pull the trigger, the gruesome marauder was upon him RENNY now got one of the few pleasant surprises of the night. —  002 - The Land of Terror
  • The body of this pterodactyl was about the size of an ostrich's. —  002 - The Land of Terror
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Etymologies (1)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. New Latin Pterodactylus, genus name : Greek pteron, feather, wing; see -pter + Greek daktulos, finger.
 

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/tɛroʊkˈdæktɪl/
by American Heritage

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