brontosaurus

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bron·to·saur·us

(brŏn′tə-sôr′əs) or bron·to·saur (brŏn′tə-sôr′)

An apatosaurus.

[New Latin Brontosaurus, former genus name : Greek brontē, thunder + Greek sauros, lizard.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

brontosaurus

(ˌbrɒntəˈsɔːrəs) or

brontosaur

(Animals) any very large herbivorous quadrupedal dinosaur of the genus Apatosaurus, common in North America during Jurassic times, having a long neck and long tail: suborder Sauropoda (sauropods)

[C19: from New Latin, from Greek brontē thunder + sauros lizard]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

bron•to•sau•rus

(ˌbrɒn təˈsɔr əs)
n., pl. -sau•rus•es, -sau•ri (-ˈsɔr aɪ)

brontosaur (def. 1).

bron·to·sau·rus

(brŏn′tə-sôr′əs) or bron·to·saur (brŏn′tə-sôr′)

An earlier name for apatosaurus.

Word History Take a little deception, add a little excitement, stir them with a century-long mistake, and you have the mystery of the brontosaurus. Specifically, you have the mystery of its name. For 100 years this 70-foot-long, 30-ton vegetarian giant had two names. This case of double identity began in 1877, when bones of a large dinosaur were discovered. The creature was dubbed apatosaurus, a name that meant "deceptive lizard" or "unreal lizard." Two years later, bones of a larger dinosaur were found, and in all the excitement, scientists named it brontosaurus or "thunder lizard." This name stuck until scientists decided it was all a mistake—the two sets of bones actually belonged to the same type of dinosaur. Since it is a rule in taxonomy that the first name given to a newly discovered organism is the one that must be used, scientists have had to use the term apatosaurus. But "thunder lizard" had found a lot of popular appeal, and many people still prefer to call the beast brontosaurus.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

brontosaurus - huge quadrupedal herbivorous dinosaur common in North America in the late Jurassic

apatosaur, apatosaurus, Apatosaurus excelsus, brontosaur, thunder lizard

sauropod, sauropod dinosaur - very large herbivorous dinosaur of the Jurassic and Cretaceous having a small head a long neck and tail and five-toed limbs; largest known land animal

genus Apatosaurus, genus Brontosaurus - large quadrupedal herbivorous dinosaurs with very long neck and tail; late Jurassic

Translations

бронтозавр

brontosaurus

[ˌbrɒntəˈsɔːraɪ] N (brontosauruses or brontosauri (pl)) → brontosaurio m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

brontosaurus

n → Brontosaurus m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

brontosaurus

[ˌbrɒntəˈsɔːrəs] n → brontosauro

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

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References in classic literature ?

Further in the gallery was the huge skeleton barrel of a Brontosaurus. My museum hypothesis was confirmed.

View in context

Between 1966 and 1972 The Move Had a total of ten hit singles - Night Of Fear, I Can Hear The Grass Grow, Flowers In The Rain (famously the first ever record played on BBC Radio 1), Fire Brigade, Blackberry Way (a number one in 1969), Curly, Brontosaurus, Tonight, Chinatown and California Man.

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This dinosaur became widespread in the late Jurassic period, along with other similar creatures like the Brachiosaurus, Brontosaurus and Diplodocus.

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On the other hand, the middle-aged know somewhat about it through Hollywood movies and the young enjoy watching dinosaur cartoons and are familiar with T-Rex and Brontosaurus as fun fossils.

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From the 17,000 D-Day commandos who went through the depot at Achnacarry in Lochaber to the Navy personnel who trained on board HMS Brontosaurus off Castle Toward near Dunoon, our nation provided the perfect practice grounds for the Normandy landings.

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But when I was young - and Sir David Attenborough was stalking his first brontosaurus - meditation and spiritual discovery were all the rage, attracting many followers, our own George Harrison among them.

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Wahlgren said there is even a brontosaurus light display.

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The brontosaurus standing in the outdoor garden center and poking its head above Beisswenger's Hardware has become a landmark around New Brighton, Minnesota.

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Sauropods, weighing up to 66 tons, include well-known species like the brontosaurus. Thus, this part of South Africa was the origin of all the giant dinosaurs that evolved later, Choiniere said.

Huge new dinosaur species discovered in Africa

Researchers said this was a key part of evolution to enormous creatures such as Brontosaurus that lived 50million years later.

New species is dino giant of 200m BC

A T-Rex B Velociraptor C Brontosaurus D Stegasaurus 9.

General Knowledge Quiz

These giant plant-eating dinosaurs like Brontosaurus and Diplodocus were the largest land animals that ever lived on this planet.