PTERODACTYL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pterodactyl mean? 

• PTERODACTYL (noun)
  The noun PTERODACTYL has 1 sense:

1. extinct flying reptile

  Familiarity information: PTERODACTYL used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PTERODACTYL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Extinct flying reptile

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("pterodactyl" is a kind of...):

flying reptile; pterosaur (an extinct reptile of the Jurassic and Cretaceous having a bird-like beak and membranous wings supported by the very long fourth digit of each forelimb)

Holonyms ("pterodactyl" is a member of...):

genus Pterodactylus; Pterodactylus (a reptile genus of Pterodactylidae)

 Context examples 

To the best of my belief, a pterodactyl.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

So much we have gained by this clear vision of our first pterodactyl.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You may remember that day we found the pterodactyl rookery in the swamp—what?

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He put the pterodactyl into your head.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

One word as to the fate of the London pterodactyl.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The pyramidal rock upon which I saw and shot the pterodactyl was more accessible.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He described also the iguanodon and the pterodactyl—two of the first of the wonders which they had encountered.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was on that, said Professor Challenger, pointing to this tree, that the pterodactyl was perched.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You will observe that both the pterodactyl and the stegosaurus are Jurassic, and therefore of a great age in the order of life.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

If its homing instinct led it upon the right line, there can be no doubt that somewhere out in the wastes of the Atlantic the last European pterodactyl found its end.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)