Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Adapted to or specialized for running.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Fitted for running: as, the cursorial legs of a dog.
- Having limbs adapted for walking or running, as distinguished from other modes of progression: as, a cursorial isopod; a cursorial orthopteran.
- Habitually progressing by walking or running, as distinguished from hopping, leaping, etc.; gradient; gressorial; ambulatory. Specifically
- Of or pertaining to the Cursoria, Cursores, or Cursitores.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Adapted to running or walking, and not to prehension. See
Illust. ofaves . - adjective Of or pertaining to the Cursores.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective zoology Adapted for
running . - adjective zoology Having
legs fitted for running.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective (of limbs and feet) adapted for running
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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It browses on ground cacti, is reported to not drink, and is superior in cursorial ability compared to other living species.
Archive 2006-07-01 Darren Naish 2006
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It browses on ground cacti, is reported to not drink, and is superior in cursorial ability compared to other living species.
Meet peccary # 4 Darren Naish 2006
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So I wonder if the reptilean ancestors of the birds had a cursorial or an arboreal approach to early flight ….
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When they came for the tool using cursorial primates, no species cared.
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Legs were long, cursorial, with five tarsal segments.
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It is absolutely wrong to argue – as some workers have – that the ‘trees down’ theory is at odds with the very robust and well supported body of evidence showing that birds are theropod dinosaurs, given that basal birds, and the theropods closest to birds, were apparently small-bodied proficient tree climbers, and not big cursorial Deinonychus-like predators as some would have it.
Literally, flying lemurs (and not dermopterans) Darren Naish 2006
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See the next post (Goodbye my giant predatory, cursorial, flightless hoatzin).
Giant hoatzins of doom Darren Naish 2006
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These slender legs suggest that BAR 3877-11 was a fast-moving, cursorial predator, and Chiappe & Bertelli state that ‘the long-established correlation between their corpulence and reduced cursorial agility needs to be re-evaluated’.
Archive 2006-11-01 Darren Naish 2006
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Strongly adapted for life in open country, reindeer are the most cursorial of living deer.
Oh deer oh deer oh deer Darren Naish 2006
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See the next post (Goodbye my giant predatory, cursorial, flightless hoatzin).
Archive 2006-11-01 Darren Naish 2006
jmjarmstrong commented on the word cursorial
JM cast a cursory glance at his cursorial accessories and runs a mile!
August 17, 2009