Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A large herbivorous ornithiscian dinosaur of the genus Iguanodon of the Cretaceous Period, having a long broad snout with a horny beak, numerous small teeth, and a spike on each thumb.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The typical genus of the fossil family Iguanodontidæ: so called from the resemblance of the teeth to those of Iguana.
  • noun [lowercase] A species or a specimen of the genus Iguanodon or family Iguanodontidæ.

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

  • noun (Paleon.) A genus of gigantic herbivorous dinosaurs having a birdlike pelvis and large hind legs with three-toed feet capable of supporting the entire body. Its teeth resemble those of the iguana, whence its name. Several species are known, mostly from the Wealden of England and Europe. See Illustration in Appendix.

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

  • noun Any of several large dinosaurs, of the genus Iguanodon, of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods

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

  • noun massive herbivorous bipedal dinosaur with a long heavy tail; common in Europe and northern Africa; early Cretaceous period

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin Iguanodōn, genus name : iguana + –odon.]

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Examples

  • A long horn projects from the snout, and it is a fac-simile in miniature of the antediluvian monster, the "iguanodon," who was about a hundred feet long and twelve feet thick -- an awkward creature to meet in a narrow road.

    Eight Years' Wanderings in Ceylon Samuel White Baker 1857

  • The past falls open unexpectedly, and its wider accretions and effacements – the lost forest of Andredesleage, the iguanodon bones Gideon Mantell discovered in the Wealden sandstone, the Piltdown Man forgery a century later – loom over the landscape she walks through.

    To the River: A Journey Beneath the Surface by Olivia Laing – review 2011

  • And then there was the strong element of The Dad throughout, his footprints as durable as those of the iguanodon in a fossilized coastal swamp bed.

    Supernatural: Jump the Shark - Pink Raygun.com 2009

  • Mark Hallett, a leading "paleo-illustrator," allows himself to imagine that the crests in Allosaurus were brightly colored, or that the iguanodon could have sported a bright skin flap "like a coxcomb."

    New Theories And Old Bones Reveal The Lifestyle Of The Dinosaur 2008

  • Still more shadowy were the sinister crocodilian outlines — alligators and other uncouth shapes, culminating in the colossal lizard, the iguanodon.

    A Pair of Blue Eyes 2006

  • Haven't you just breathed in a nitrogen atom that was once breathed out by the third iguanodon to the left of the tall cycad tree?

    The God Delusion Dawkins, Richard, 1941- 2006

  • You have just breathed in a nitrogen atom that passed through the right lung of the third iguanodon to the left of the tall cycad tree.

    Richard Dawkins on our "queer" universe 2005

  • You have just breathed in a nitrogen atom that passed through the right lung of the third iguanodon to the left of the tall cycad tree.

    Richard Dawkins on our "queer" universe 2005

  • You have just breathed in a nitrogen atom that passed through the right lung of the third iguanodon to the left of the tall cycad tree.

    Richard Dawkins on our "queer" universe 2005

  • It was carnivorous, and therefore more ferocious than the iguanodon, and more ready to attack.

    A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder James De Mille

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