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mastodon definition

mas·to·don (mas′tə dän′)

noun

any of an extinct family (Mastodontidae) of proboscidean mammals that differed from the elephants and mammoths by being larger and having a different structure of the molars

Etymology: < Fr mastodonte, coined (1806) by Baron Georges (Léopold Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert) Cuvier < Gr mastos (see masto-) + odont-, stem of odous, tooth: from the nipplelike processes on its molar

Related Forms:

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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