释义 |
Definition of pterodactyl in English: pterodactylnoun ˌtɛrəˈdaktɪlˌtɛrəˈdækt(ə)l 1A pterosaur of the late Jurassic period, with a long slender head and neck and a very short tail. Family Pterodactylidae, order Pterosauria: several genera, including Pterodactylus Example sentencesExamples - Earlier, Witmer and others had performed a similar study on fossils of the flying reptiles called pterodactyls, which are not related to Archaeopteryx.
- Other anatomical features, such as attachment points for powerful neck muscles, support the idea that giant pterodactyls once plowed the waters for food.
- 1.1 (in general use) any pterosaur.
Example sentencesExamples - Birds, close cousins of pterodactyls, are believed to have evolved from theropod dinosaurs about 150 million years ago.
- I decided on a pterodactyl, a dinosaur with a distinct advantage over most dinosaurs: the ability to fly like an eagle.
- Based on widely accepted criteria, pterodactyls and other pterosaurs are not dinosaurs.
- Similarly, there's no creationist reason why the pterodactyls shouldn't have a fur-like covering - yet no evolutionist believes that pterodactyls evolved into mammals.
Origin Early 19th century: from modern Latin Pterodactylus (genus name), from Greek pteron 'wing' + daktulos 'finger'. helicopter from late 19th century: The first helicopter did not appear until the 1920s, but the word had already been invented by then, first of all in French—the science fiction writer Jules Verne wrote of a helicopter in The Clipper of the Clouds (1886). The French word was based on Greek helix ‘spiral’ and pteron ‘wing’, which gave us the name of the flying reptile the pterodactyl (early 19th century).
Definition of pterodactyl in US English: pterodactylnounˌterəˈdakt(ə)lˌtɛrəˈdækt(ə)l 1A pterosaur of the late Jurassic period, with a long slender head and neck and a very short tail. Family Pterodactylidae, order Pterosauria: several genera, including Pterodactylus Example sentencesExamples - Earlier, Witmer and others had performed a similar study on fossils of the flying reptiles called pterodactyls, which are not related to Archaeopteryx.
- Other anatomical features, such as attachment points for powerful neck muscles, support the idea that giant pterodactyls once plowed the waters for food.
- 1.1 (in general use) any pterosaur.
Example sentencesExamples - Based on widely accepted criteria, pterodactyls and other pterosaurs are not dinosaurs.
- Birds, close cousins of pterodactyls, are believed to have evolved from theropod dinosaurs about 150 million years ago.
- Similarly, there's no creationist reason why the pterodactyls shouldn't have a fur-like covering - yet no evolutionist believes that pterodactyls evolved into mammals.
- I decided on a pterodactyl, a dinosaur with a distinct advantage over most dinosaurs: the ability to fly like an eagle.
Origin Early 19th century: from modern Latin Pterodactylus (genus name), from Greek pteron ‘wing’ + daktulos ‘finger’. |