pliosaurn.
/ˈplʌɪə(ʊ)sɔː/, U.S. /ˈplaɪəˌsɔr/ Palaeontology.
Any of various large plesiosaurs of the family Pliosauridae or the family Pliosauridea, having a short neck, a large head, and large powerful jaws with long teeth, and known from fossil remains of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.
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the world > animals > reptiles > extinct reptiles and dinosaurs > [noun] > order Sauropterygia > pliosaurus
pliosaur1842
Pliosaurus1842
1842 R. Owen in Rep. 11th Meeting Brit. Assoc. Advancem. Sci. 1841 63 The general structure of the vertebræ of the Pliosaur corresponds closely with that of the Plesiosaur.
1845 R. Owen Odontography I. ii. iv. 285 The teeth of the Pleiosaur present varieties of form as well as of size.
1857 R. Chambers Vestiges Nat. Hist. Creation 243 In the pliosaur, which is later in appearing, we have a stage of advance to the true sauria.
1913 Amer. Naturalist 47 188 The second volume..proposes to deal with the crocodiles and pliosaurs of the Oxford clay.
1966 A. S. Romer Vertebr. Paleontol. (ed. 3) ix. 125/1 The pliosaurs tended, even in the Jurassic, to become large forms.
1994 Guardian 2 July 5/1 The pliosaur is one of the dinosaur family known as plesiosaurs, with its limb bones formed into paddles and teeth up to seven inches long.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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