mastodonticadj.
/ˌmastəˈdɒntɪk/, U.S. /ˌmæstəˈdɑn(t)ɪk/ Palaeontology.
Of or relating to a mastodon; resembling or characteristic of a mastodon. In early use also: †= mastozootic adj. (obsolete). Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > order Proboscidea (elephants) > [adjective] > of miscellaneous extinct types > of or resembling the mastodon
mastodontoid1842
mastodonic1853
mastodontic1855
mastodont1890
1855 J. Phillips Man. Geol. 381 In a few cases palæotherian and mastodontic remains occur together.
a1856 H. Miller Testimony of Rocks (1857) ii. 90 The mastodontic period is removed by two great geologic eras from the present time.
1886 Cent. Mag. 31 355/1 Some men of large size; others of mastodontic proportions.
1895 Athenæum 2 Mar. 285/3 The African elephant..belongs, as regards its dentition, to an earlier and mastodontic type.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xii. [Cyclops] 328 Amid cheers that rent the welkin,..the mastodontic pleasureship slowly moved away.., escorted by a flotilla of barges.
1976 Lancet 25 Dec. 1400/2 It is clear that the new Administration [of the U.S.A.] will have to do a lot of thinking on the mastodontic bulk of H.E.W.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1855