noun
stegosaurus
steg-uh-SOR-us/stˌɛɡʌsˈɔrʌs/
A large plant-eating dinosaur with plates along its back and spikes on its tail.
The stegosaurus has two rows of plates along its back.
Etymology
The name means “roof lizard”: the fossilized armor plates along its back looked like roof tiles. That resemblance explains the roof element in this dinosaur’s name.
In context
some dinosaurs walked on two legs like the Allosaurus and the Utah raptor While others walked on four like the stegosaurus and the Apatosaurus
More examples
- A stegosaurus eats plants rather than meat.
- The stegosaurus uses its spiked tail to defend itself.
- Two stegosauruses appear in the museum's dinosaur mural.
Forms
stegosaurus · stegosauruses · stegosauri