saurian

[ sawr-ee-uhn ]

/ ˈsɔr i ən /

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adjective

belonging or pertaining to the Sauria, a group of reptiles originally including the lizards, crocodiles, and several extinct forms but now technically restricted to the lizards.

resembling a lizard.

noun

a saurian animal, as a dinosaur or lizard.

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Origin of saurian

1800–10; <New Latin Sauri(a) an order of reptiles + -an; see -saur

Words nearby saurian

Saundra, saunter, -saur, Saurashtra, saurel, saurian, saurischian, sauropod, sauropterygian, -saurus, saury

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

How to use saurian in a sentence

When within a few yards of the saurian, he threw a double charge of dynamite close up to it, and then turned to fly.
Wanderings Among South Sea Savages And in Borneo and the Philippines|H. Wilfrid Walker
A river of some size enters, on the left hand, about six miles below the saurian encampment, which originates in a lake.
Summary Narrative of an Exploratory Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi River, in 1820|Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
The bullet darted into the nearer eye and ripped through what little brain the saurian possessed.
Up the Forked River|Edward Sylvester Ellis
But the term saurian is no longer in favour, and has faded from science, and is interesting only in ancient history of progress.
Dragons of the Air|H. G. Seeley

Most modern naturalists who use the term saurian still make it an equivalent of lizard, or an animal of the lizard kind.
Dragons of the Air|H. G. Seeley

British Dictionary definitions for saurian

saurian

/ (ˈsɔːrɪən) /

adjective

of, relating to, or resembling a lizard

of, relating to, or belonging to the Sauria, a former suborder of reptiles (now called Lacertilia), which included the lizards

noun

a former name for lizard

Word Origin for saurian

C15: from New Latin Sauria, from Greek sauros

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 saurian

saurian

[ sôr′ē-ən ]

A lizard or similar reptile.