Any of various extinct, often gigantic, carnivorous or herbivorous reptiles of the orders Saurischia and Ornithischia that were chiefly terrestrial and existed during the Mesozoic Era.
A relic of the past: "living dinosaurs of the world of vegetation"(John Olmsted).
One that is hopelessly outmoded or unwieldy: "The old, big-city teaching hospital is a dinosaur"(Peggy Breault).
[New Latin Dīnosauria, group name, from Dīnosaurus, former genus name : Greek deinos, monstrous + Greek sauros, lizard.] di'no·sau'ric (-sôr'ĭk) adj.
(dī'nə-sôr') 