sabertooth

Thân thiện

A sabertooth cat stalks its prey across an ancient grassy plain.

Definition

Noun: 1. An extinct carnivorous mammal: A sabertooth is any of numerous species of extinct feline predators characterized by exceptionally long, curved upper canine teeth resembling sabers or daggers. These animals lived across the Old and New Worlds from the Oligocene epoch through the Pleistocene epoch.

Examples

• Noun:
  • The sabertooth was an apex predator of its time.
  • Fossils of the sabertooth have been found on multiple continents.
  • The most famous sabertooth is Smilodon, often found in the La Brea Tar Pits.

Advanced Usage

• The term "sabertooth" is often used in paleontology and popular culture to symbolize prehistoric predatory power. It is frequently associated with ice age megafauna.
  • The museum's exhibit featured a dramatic reconstruction of a sabertooth staking its prey.

Variants and Related Words

• Saber-toothed cat (n): A more precise and common synonym for "sabertooth."
• Saber-toothed tiger (n): A common but technically inaccurate informal name, as these animals were not closely related to modern tigers.
• Smilodon (n): The genus name for the most well-known and recently extinct group of sabertooths.

Synonyms

• Saber-toothed cat
• Saber-tooth (informal)

Related Idioms and Phrases

• Like a sabertooth: Used metaphorically to describe something or someone with fierce, predatory, or archaic power.
  • He emerged from the negotiations like a sabertooth, having secured every concession he wanted.

Học thuật

Noun

1. any of many extinct cats of the Old and New Worlds having long swordlike upper canine teeth; from the Oligocene through the Pleistocene

Từ đồng nghĩa

• saber-toothed tiger