Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • A group of extinct Mesozoic reptiles, mostly of gigantic or colossal size.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun plural (Paleon.) An order of extinct mesozoic reptiles, mostly of large size (whence the name). Notwithstanding their size, they present birdlike characters in the skeleton, esp. in the pelvis and hind limbs. Some walked on their three-toed hind feet, thus producing the large “bird tracks,” so-called, of mesozoic sandstones; others were five-toed and quadrupedal. See Illust. of compsognathus, also Illustration of Dinosaur in Appendix.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Most prominent was the British paleontologist, biologist, and comparative anatomist Richard Owen, who coined the term dinosauria Greek for "great lizards", and in 1853 opened a Dinosaur Court in London's Crystal Palace, holding a banquet in the belly of an ersatz iguanodon.

    Forbes.com: News Jonathon Keats 2011

  • She said private collectors often snap up "dinosauria" - the collective term for dinosaur eggs, teeth and bone fragments - to decorate their homes, but conceded: "You'd have to have an extremely large living room."

    BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition 2009

  • [42] Cladists place modern birds within the clade dinosauria, meaning that they consider all bird species today as, technically, dinosaurs.

    Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] MarcusDecatur 2010

  • [41] Evolutionist cladists place modern birds within the clade dinosauria, meaning that they consider all bird species today as, technically, dinosaurs.

    Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] 2010

  • Try a simpler case, such as the history of dinosauria.

    Abusing Science 2008

  • Zachriel: Try a simpler case, such as the history of dinosauria.

    Abusing Science 2008

  • Try a simpler case, such as the history of dinosauria.

    Abusing Science 2008

  • He said the planet was losing an estimated three species a day and this could only be compared to the period 65 million years ago when, among millions of other species, the dinosauria, were wiped out as a result of an "extra-terrestrial object of some magnitude" striking the planet, dramatically changing the enviroment and weather patterns.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 1997

  • His incessant shouting was a flock of dinosauria in the amber of repose; it upset our nerves, but as it added to our opportunities for killing time, many forgave him and thought him well worth the price of admission.

    A Fantasy of Mediterranean Travel S. G. Bayne

  • It would be as bad as an elephant trying to be kittenish and about as absurd as one of your dinosauria getting up and trying to do a two-step.

    The Prairie Mother Arthur Stringer 1912

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