mastodontn.adj.

1809 T. Jefferson Let. 10 Sept. in Papers (2004) Retirement Ser. I. 511 The animal was neither a Mammoth nor an elephant, but of a distinct kind, to which they [sc. members of the National Institute of France] have given the name of Mastodont, from the protuberances of it's teeth.

1826 Lancet 19 Aug. 647/2 The mastodonte with straight teeth was smaller than the mastodonte of Ohio.

1897 Nat. Sci. Oct. 259 Large upper and lower tusks, as in the older Mastodonts.

1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. (rev. ed.) X. 636/2 Some mastodonts..had elongate lower jaws... Another group..were short-jawed and had no lower tusks.

1978 M. Lambert Fossils 49 In the Pliocene epoch, grassy plains covered vast areas. Enormous herds of plant-eating, hooved Mammals, such as three-toed horses, mastodonts and antelopes, roamed the plains.

1999 R. Singer Encycl. Paleontol. II. 986/1 Paleomastodon..gave rise to two major lineages of proboscideans: the true mastodonts, which are now more properly called ‘mammutids’, and the gomphotheres, sometimes called ‘mastodonts’.

1890 Cent. Dict. Mastodont, having teeth like a mastodon.