plesiosaur

American  

[plee-see-uh-sawr] / ˈpli si əˌsɔr /

noun

1. any marine reptile of the extinct genus Plesiosaurus, from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, having a small head, a long neck, four paddlelike limbs, and a short tail.

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plesiosaur British  

/ ˈpliːsɪəˌsɔː /

noun

1. any of various extinct marine reptiles of the order Sauropterygia, esp any of the suborder Plesiosauria, of Jurassic and Cretaceous times, having a long neck, short tail, and paddle-like limbs See also ichthyosaur Compare dinosaur pterosaur

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plesiosaur Scientific  

/ plē′sē-ə-sôr′ /

1. Any of various large, extinct marine reptiles of the genus Plesiosaurus and related genera of the Mesozoic Era. Most plesiosaurs had a small head on a long neck and a broad body with paddlelike limbs; one group had a large head on a short neck. The exact relationship between plesiosaurs and other reptiles is not known.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• plesiosauroid
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of plesiosaur

< New Latin Plesiosaurus (1821), equivalent to Greek plēsí ( os ) near, close to + -o- -o- + saûros -saur; originally so named because of its conjectured nearness to modern reptiles, relative to the ichthyosaurs

Example Sentences

Plesiosaur locomotion: is the four-wing problem real of merely an atheoretical exercise?

From Scientific American • Sep. 4, 2017

Plesiosaur extinction cycles - events that mark the beginning, middle and end of the Cretaceous.

From Scientific American • Sep. 4, 2017

Plesiosaur swimming as interpreted from skeletal analysis and experimental results.

From Scientific American • Sep. 4, 2017

Plesiosaur extinction cycles – events that mark the beginning, middle and end of the Cretaceous.

From Scientific American • Jan. 3, 2012

They were marine animals with naked skin, a head and neck something like that of the Ichthyosaur, and paddles like those of the Plesiosaur.

From The Story of Evolution by McCabe, Joseph