stegosaur

[ steg-uh-sawr ]

noun

1. a plant-eating dinosaur of the genus Stegosaurus, from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, having a heavy, bony armor and a row of bony plates along its back, and growing to a length of 20 to 40 feet (6–12 meters).

stegosaur

/ ˈstɛɡəˌsɔː; ˌstɛɡəˈsɔːrəs /

noun

1. any quadrupedal herbivorous ornithischian dinosaur of the suborder Stegosauria, esp any of the genus Stegosaurus, of Jurassic and early Cretaceous times, having an armour of bony plates

stegosaur

/ stĕg′ə-sôr′ /

1. Any of several large herbivorous ornithischian dinosaurs of the group Stegosauria of the Jurassic and early Cretaceous Periods. The largest genus, Stegosaurus, had a tail with two horizontal spikes for defense, and an arched back with an alternating double row of large, triangular, upright bony plates. Stegosaurs grew over 6 m (20 ft) long, but had extremely small heads with brains the size of a walnut. The hindquarters were controlled by a neural ganglion in the hip region that was larger than the brain.

Word History and Origins

Origin of stegosaur¹

< New Latin Stegosaurus (1877); stego-, -saur

Word History and Origins

Origin of stegosaur¹

C19: from Greek stegos roof + -saur