proboscis
noun
the trunk of an elephant.
proboscides
-
pluralof proboscis.plural
The grammatical form denoting more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Again, this seems incompatible with the presence of a trunk, as if sauropods had proboscides, wouldn’t they be grabbing foliage with the trunk tip, and then passing it into the mouth, over the teeth?
From Scientific American ● Nov. 20, 2012
As we’ll see, and as is obvious if you look at the proboscides of extant mammals, there’s a lot more to having a trunk that having large, dorsally located nostrils.
From Scientific American ● Nov. 20, 2012
Mammals with proboscides or inferred proboscides – I’m thinking tapirs, pyrotheres, astrapotheres, the stem-whale Makaracetus, some amynodontid rhinos, some oreodonts, Macrauchenia, dik-diks, saigas, desmans, sengis and so on – have narrow snouts.
From Scientific American ● Nov. 20, 2012
Naturally there will be mercantile proboscides dipping here and there, gleaning a little honey for the sweetening of the pots.
From Time Magazine Archive
Their habit is to attach themselves to the skin by plunging their proboscides into it, and then suck the blood until their flat bodies are distended into a globular form.
From The Naturalist on the River Amazons by Henry Walter Bates
