mastodon

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an extinct elephant-like mammal of the genus Mammut, distinguished from mammoths and elephants by the cone-shaped cusps on its molar teeth

   The museum displayed a nearly complete mastodon skeleton from the Pleistocene epoch.

2. 2
   noun

   something awkwardly large, heavy, or unwieldy

   His first mobile phone was a mastodon that barely fit in his coat pocket.

First attested in 1813, from the taxonomic name Mastodon, coined in 1806 by French naturalist Georges Cuvier from masto- ("breast") + -odon ("tooth"). The name refers to the nipple-shaped projections on the crowns of the extinct mammal's molars.

Topics