Mastodon Definition

măstə-dŏn
mastodons
noun
mastodons
Any of an extinct family (Mastodontidae) of proboscidean mammals larger than the elephants and having a different structure of the molars.
Webster's New World

A nickname for both the 4-8-0 and (though incorrectly) the 4-10-0 train configurations.

Wiktionary
Synonyms:

Other Word Forms of Mastodon

Noun

Singular:
mastodon
Plural:
mastodons

Origin of Mastodon

  • 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.

    From Wiktionary

  • New Latin Mastodōn genus name Greek mastos breast, nipple Greek odōn tooth (from the nipple-shaped protrusions on the crowns of its molars) dent- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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