Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The typical genus of the Toxodonta, based upon the remains of an animal about as large as a hippopotamus, discovered by Darwin, many examples of which have since been found in Pleistocene deposits in the Argentine Republic, as T. platensis.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Paleon.) A gigantic extinct herbivorous mammal from South America, having teeth bent like a bow. It is the type of the order Toxodonta.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun paleontology A gigantic
extinct herbivorous mammal fromSouth America , having teeth bent like a bow. It is the type of theorder Toxodonta.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Another native ungulate, the toxodon, as big and heavily made as a rhinoceros, was probably amphibious, and had teeth superficially resembling those of a rodent.
VIII. Primeval Man; and the Horse, the Lion, and the Elephant 1916
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Finally, I will assuredly give some account of the toxodon, the giant ten-foot guinea pig, with projecting chisel teeth, which we killed as it drank in the gray of the morning by the side of the lake.
The Lost World 1912
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Finally, I will assuredly give some account of the toxodon, the giant ten-foot guinea pig, with projecting chisel teeth, which we killed as it drank in the gray of the morning by the side of the lake.
The Lost World Arthur Conan Doyle 1894
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To these were now added the _Mylodon Darwinii_, a giant sloth; the scelidotherium, a somewhat smaller form; the great camel-like, yet odd-toed, macrauchenia; and the toxodon, as large as a hippopotamus, yet having a strange resemblance to the little rodents.
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Emerging from the water appears a great head, with little piggish eyes set wide apart, with immense muzzle and lips, and broad cheeks armed with stiff projecting bristles -- the sluggish toxodon.
The Western World Picturesque Sketches of Nature and Natural History in North and South America William Henry Giles Kingston 1847
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The fossil toxodon resembled the Rodentia in its dentition, and, at the same time, was nearly related to the elephant.
The Western World Picturesque Sketches of Nature and Natural History in North and South America William Henry Giles Kingston 1847
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Here and there may be seen, projecting from the cliffs, huge skeletons of the toxodon, megatherium, mylodon, and other monsters which once in countless numbers inhabited the plains of South America.
The Western World Picturesque Sketches of Nature and Natural History in North and South America William Henry Giles Kingston 1847
chained_bear commented on the word toxodon
"A genus of large extinct quadrupeds, having strongly curved molar teeth, whose remains are found in Pleistocene deposits in S. America. Hence toxodont, adj. belonging to or having the characters of the order Toxodonta, typified by this genus; n. a quadruped of this order." (OED)
September 15, 2008