Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The typical genus of Ichthyosauridæ. I. communis is one of the earliest- and best-known species.
  • noun [l. c.; pl. ichthyosauri (-rī).] A species of the genus Ichthyosaurus; an ichthyosaur.

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

  • noun (Paleon.) An extinct genus of marine reptiles; -- so named from their short, biconcave vertebræ, resembling those of fishes. Several species, varying in length from ten to thirty feet, are known from the Liassic, Oölitic, and Cretaceous formations.

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

  • noun Any of various extinct fishlike marine reptiles of the order Ichthyosauria of the Triassic period to the Cretaceous Period.

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

  • noun ichthyosaurs of the Jurassic

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From ichthyo- +‎ saurus.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word ichthyosaurus.

Examples

  • The animal to which the name ichthyosaurus has been given, was as long as a young whale, and it was fitted for living in the water, though breathing the atmosphere.

    Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation Robert Chambers 1836

  • These diagrams of the plesiosaurus, the ichthyosaurus, the pterodactyle, give you a notion of some of these extinct reptiles.

    Essays 2007

  • And here is a cast of the pterodactyle and bones of the ichthyosaurus and the plesiosaurus, just as fresh as if it had been recently dug up in a churchyard.

    Essays 2007

  • Thus the chalk contains remains of those strange flying and swimming reptiles, the pterodactyl, the ichthyosaurus, and the plesiosaurus, which are found in no later deposits, but abounded in preceding ages.

    Autobiography and Selected Essays 2003

  • As for the ichthyosaurus — has he returned to his submarine cavern? or will he reappear on the surface of the sea?

    Journey to the Interior of the Earth 2003

  • I can distinguish the eye of the ichthyosaurus glowing like

    Journey to the Interior of the Earth 2003

  • Some authorities think it was an ichthyosaurus, but there is much doubt.

    Mark Twain: A Biography 2003

  • Suddenly the ichthyosaurus and the plesiosaurus disappear below, leaving a whirlpool eddying in the water.

    Journey to the Interior of the Earth 2003

  • This frightful mask of electric sparks suggests to me, even in this dizzy excitement, a comparison with preadamite man, the contemporary of the ichthyosaurus and the megatherium.

    Journey to the Interior of the Earth 2003

  • A deadened burst of mighty splashes and snorb reached us from afar, as though an ichthyosaurus had been taking a bath of glitter in the great river.

    Heart of Darkness 1960

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • A deadened burst of mighty splashes and snorts reached us from afar, as though an ichthyosaurus had been taking a bath of glitter in the great river. --Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad

    March 9, 2011