machærodont, a. (and n.) Zool.
(məˈkɪərədɒnt)
Also machairodont.
[f. Gr. µάχαιρα sword, sabre + ὀδοντ-, ὀδούς tooth.]
Characterized by teeth like those of the genus Machairodus; sabre-toothed.
| 1883 Flower in Encycl. Brit. XV. 435/2 Many modifications of this commonly-called ‘machærodont’ type have been met with. Ibid., The sabre-toothed or machærodont dentition, the most specially carnivorous type of structure known. 1889 Nicholson & Lydekker Man. Palæont. (ed. 3) II. 1448 The extinct Machærodonts or Sabre-toothed Tigers. 1925 C. R. Eastman tr. Zittel's Text-bk. Palaeont. III. 75 A possible derivation of both Felines and Machairodonts may be from Dinictis. 1973 Nature 3 Aug. 311/2 A minimum of twenty-three large mammal species were represented, including at least five extinct forms—a large baboon (?Simopithecus), a sabretooth cat (machairodont), [etc.]. |