释义 |
‖ ichthyosaurus Palæont.|ˌɪkθɪəʊˈsɔːrəs| Pl. -i. [mod.L., f. Gr. ἰχθύ-ς, ἰχθύο- fish + σαῦρος (= σαύρα) lizard.] a. A genus of extinct marine animals, combining the characters of saurian reptiles and of fishes with some features of whales, and having an enormous head, a tapering body, four paddles, and a long tail. (Their remains are found chiefly in the Lias.) b. An animal of this genus.
1832H. T. De la Beche Geol. Man. (ed. 2) 385 Of the various reptiles of this period, the Ichthyosaurus..seems to have been best suited to rule in the waters. 1833Lyell Princ. Geol. III. 172 Vertebræ of ichthyosauri. Ibid. Gloss. 71 Ichthyosaurus, a gigantic fossil marine reptile, intermediate between a crocodile and a fish. 1851Richardson Geol. (1855) 298 The Ichthyosaurus had the general contour of a dolphin, the head of a lizard, the teeth of a crocodile, the sternal arch of an ornithorhynchus, and the paddles of a whale. 1872Mivart Elem. Anat. 37 In the extinct Ichthyosaurus the neural arch was permanently distinct from the centrum. Hence ichthyosaurian |ɪkθɪəʊˈsɔːrɪən| a., of or pertaining to the ichthyosaurus; belonging to the order Ichthyosauria; n. an animal of this order. ichthyoˈsaurid, an animal of the Ichthyosaurus family, Ichthyosauridæ. ichthyoˈsauroid a., having the form or characters of an ichthyosaurus.
1854Hooker Himal. Jrnls. I. iii. 79 With his ichthyosaurian snout raised high above the water. |