Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of a group of amniote vertebrates that are characterized by two openings in the temporal region on each side of the skull. The first diapsids emerged in the Pennsylvanian Period, and their descendants include the lizards, snakes, crocodiles, dinosaurs, pterosaurs, birds, and, in some classifications, the turtles.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Having two temporal arches like the members of the reptilian subclass Diapsida.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun zoology Any of very many reptiles, of the subclass Diapsida, that have a pair of openings in the skull behind each eye

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun reptile having a pair of openings in the skull behind each eye

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin Diapsida, taxon name : di– + Greek hapsis, hapsid-, arch (from the two temporal openings on each side of the skull ); see apsis.]

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