Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A genus of gigantic extinct Pleistocene edentate quadrupeds related to the sloths, belonging to the family Mylodontidæ (sometimes, however, referred to the Megatheriidæ), having the foremost tooth in each jaw large and separated from the others by a wide diastema. M. cuvieri is one of the best-known species.
- noun [lowercase] An individual or a species of this genus.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Paleon.) An extinct quaternary mammal, of great size, allied to the sloth.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun paleontology An
extinct quaternary mammal , of great size, allied to thesloth .
Etymologies
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Examples
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The megalonyx was a similar animal, only somewhat less than the preceding.
Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation Robert Chambers 1836
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Excepting the megalonyx, * a kind of sloth of the size of an ox, described by Mr. Jefferson, I know not a single instance of the skeleton of an animal buried in a cavern of the New World.
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[* The megalonyx was found in the caverns of Green Briar, in Virginia, at the distance of 1500 leagues from the megatherium, which resembles it very much, and is of the size of the rhinoceros.]
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It is supposed that the bones of not less than one hundred mastodons and twenty elephants have been dug up out of the bog, besides which the bones of a stag, extinct horse, megalonyx, and bison, have been obtained.
The Western World Picturesque Sketches of Nature and Natural History in North and South America William Henry Giles Kingston 1847
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Bone Lick of the Ohio, the original seat of the discovery of the bones of the megalonyx and mastodon, announced by Mr. Jefferson to the philosophers of Europe, connects itself with this element of continental disturbance.
Incentives to the Study of the Ancient Period of American History An address, delivered before the New York Historical Society, at its forty-second anniversary, 17th November 1846 Henry Rowe Schoolcraft 1828
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(* The megalonyx was found in the caverns of Green Briar, in Virginia, at the distance of 1500 leagues from the megatherium, which resembles it very much, and is of the size of the rhinoceros.)
Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 1 Alexander von Humboldt 1814
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Excepting the megalonyx, * a kind of sloth of the size of an ox, described by Mr. Jefferson, I know not a single instance of the skeleton of an animal buried in a cavern of the New World.
Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 1 Alexander von Humboldt 1814
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"From all these established facts, there does not seem to be the smallest foundation for supposing that the new genera which I have discovered or established among extraneous fossils, such as the paleoetherium, anoplotherium, megalonyx, mastodon, pterodactylis, etc., have ever been the sources of any of our present animals, which only differ so far as they are influenced by time or climate.
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Ayres.] [* The megatherium of Virginia is the megalonyx of Mr. Jefferson.
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