Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- In mammalogy, a Cuvierian order of mammals; the edentates.
- A group of crustaceans.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun plural (Zoöl.) An order of mammals including the armadillos, sloths, and anteaters; -- called also
Bruta . The incisor teeth are rarely developed, and in some groups all the teeth are lacking.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun order of mammals having few or no teeth including: New World anteaters; sloths; armadillos
Etymologies
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Examples
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South America is the home of a peculiar order of mammalia -- of the edentata, to which belong the sloth, the armadillo, and the like.
The Theories of Darwin and Their Relation to Philosophy, Religion, and Morality Rudolf Schmid
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The three lowest orders of mammals, namely, marsupials, edentata, and rodents, coexist in South America in the same region with numerous monkeys, and probably interfere little with each other.
Introduction to the Science of Sociology Robert Ezra Park 1926
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The three lowest orders of mammals, namely, marsupials, edentata, and rodents, co-exist in South America in the same region with numerous monkeys, and probably interfere little with each other.
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The sloth, indeed, is specially adapted in organization to an arboreal residence, but this change is individual, not tribal, this animal being an aberrant form of the ground-dwelling edentata.
Man And His Ancestor A Study In Evolution Charles Morris 1877
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Lastly, the law of the long endurance of allied forms on the same continent, — of marsupials in Australia, of edentata in America, and other such cases, — is intelligible, for within a confined country, the recent and the extinct will naturally be allied by descent.
On the Origin of Species~ Chapter 14 (historical) Charles Darwin 1859
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Lastly, the law of the long endurance of allied forms on the same continent, -- of marsupials in Australia, of edentata in America, and other such cases, -- is intelligible, for within a confined country, the recent and the extinct will naturally be allied by descent.
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No doubt the extraordinary development of tongue is given to it for the same purpose as to the _edentata_ of the ant-eating tribe -- to enable it to "lick up" the _termites_.
Bruin The Grand Bear Hunt Mayne Reid 1850
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Lastly, the law of the long endurance of allied forms on the same continent, -- of marsupials in Australia, of edentata in
On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. (2nd edition) Charles Darwin 1845
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Australia, of edentata in America, and other such cases, -- is intelligible, for within a confined country, the recent and the extinct will naturally be allied by descent.
On the origin of species Charles Darwin 1845
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The edentata being proved (as I hold) to have been mere temporary migrants into North America in the post-Pliocene epoch, form no part of its Tertiary fauna.
More Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 2 Charles Darwin 1845
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