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mastodonic

- 2 dictionary results

mas⋅to⋅don

[mas-tuh-don]
–noun
1. a massive, elephantlike mammal of the genus Mammut (Mastodon), that flourished worldwide from the Miocene through the Pleistocene epochs and, in North America, into recent times, having long, curved upper tusks and, in the male, short lower tusks.
2. a person of immense size, power, influence, etc.

Origin:
1805–15; < NL < Gk mast(ós) breast + odn tooth


mas⋅to⋅don⋅ic, adjective
mas·to·don   (mās'tə-dŏn')   
n.  Any of several very large, extinct proboscidian mammals of the genus Mammut (sometimes Mastodon), resembling the elephant but having molar teeth of a different structure.

[New Latin Mastodōn, genus name : Greek mastos, breast, nipple + Greek odōn, odont-, tooth (from the nipple-shaped protrusions on the crowns of its molars); see dent- in Indo-European roots.]
mas'to·don'ic adj.
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