Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A large extinct whale of the genus Basilosaurus of the Eocene Epoch, having a long thin body and vestigial hind limbs.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A genus of large fossil cetaceans from the Eocene of the southern United States.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any of several
extinct cetaceans , of the family Basilosauridae, from the lateEocene
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[New Latin Basilosaurus, genus name : Greek basileus, king + Greek sauros, lizard (from its former classification as a reptilian).]
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word basilosaurus.
Examples
Sorry, no example sentences found.
bilby commented on the word basilosaurus
Hunted to extinction for its rare pesto. A shame, though petroglyphs suggest it was megadelicious with eocene gnocchi.
October 26, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word basilosaurus
Have you clicked "image search"? You're probably thinking of pestosaurus.
October 27, 2008
strev commented on the word basilosaurus
They roamed our earth a long, long thyme ago.
June 21, 2009