mammal

[ mam-uh l ]

/ ˈmæm əl /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR mammal ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

any vertebrate of the class Mammalia, having the body more or less covered with hair, nourishing the young with milk from the mammary glands, and, with the exception of the egg-laying monotremes, giving birth to live young.

Words nearby mammal

mamillate, mamillation, mamilliform, mamillothalamic fascicle, mamma, mammal, mammalgia, mammalian, mammalogy, mammals, mammaplasty

Origin of mammal

1820–30; as singular of New Latin Mammalia neuter plural of Late Latin mammālis of the breast. See mamma², -al¹

OTHER WORDS FROM mammal

mam·mal·like, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Examples from the Web for mammal

The term “gestation,” for instance, is derived from the Latin verb gestāre, used to describe a mammal carrying a burden.
The Artificial Womb Will Change Feminism Forever|Samantha Allen|August 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
If you like mammal species from the suborder Vermilingua (meaning "worm tongue")...
The March Madness Teams to Cheer If Yours Got Bounced|Ben Teitelbaum|March 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The boy screamed a deep guttural scream that did not seem to belong to any mammal I knew of.
From Bullets to Ballet|Sebastian Rich|October 16, 2010|DAILY BEAST
But along with whales, their mammal cousins, dolphins may face more danger over the long term below the surface of the sea.
Are These Dolphins Doomed?|Eli Kintisch|May 7, 2010|DAILY BEAST

The pocket gopher, nesophilus, so far as known is the only mammal which has developed a subspecies endemic to the island.
The Pocket Gophers (Genus Thomomys) of Utah, Vol. 1 No. 1|Stephen D. Durrant
Yet, inside these wee bodies is as much machinery as it takes to run any other mammal—an elephant, say.
The Adventures of a Grain of Dust|Hallam Hawksworth
The next level of mammal life, the highest level that it attains in Australia (apart from recent invasions), is the Marsupial.
The Story of Evolution|Joseph McCabe
These primitive mammals help us to reconstruct the mammal life of the Mesozoic Epoch.
The Story of Evolution|Joseph McCabe
Spotty isn't a mammal, as are all of you and all those we have been learning about, but is a reptile.
The Burgess Animal Book for Children|Thornton W. Burgess

British Dictionary definitions for mammal

mammal

/ (ˈmæməl) /

noun

any animal of the Mammalia, a large class of warm-blooded vertebrates having mammary glands in the female, a thoracic diaphragm, and a four-chambered heart. The class includes the whales, carnivores, rodents, bats, primates, etc

Derived forms of mammal

mammalian (mæˈmeɪlɪən), adjective, nounmammal-like, adjective

Word Origin for mammal

C19: via New Latin from Latin mamma breast

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for mammal

mammal

[ măm′əl ]

Any of various warm-blooded vertebrate animals of the class Mammalia, whose young feed on milk that is produced by the mother's mammary glands. Unlike other vertebrates, mammals have a diaphragm that separates the heart and lungs from the other internal organs, red blood cells that lack a nucleus, and usually hair or fur. All mammals but the monotremes bear live young. Mammals include rodents, cats, dogs, ungulates, cetaceans, and apes.

mammal

noun

Words related to mammal

Words nearby mammal

Origin of mammal

OTHER WORDS FROM mammal

Examples from the Web for mammal

British Dictionary definitions for mammal

noun

Derived forms of mammal

Word Origin for mammal

Scientific definitions for mammal