velociraptor
pronunciation
How to pronounce velociraptor in British English:
UK [vəˌlɒsɪˈræptə(r)]
How to pronounce velociraptor in American English:
US [vəˌlɑsɪˈræptə(r)]
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- Noun:
- small active carnivore that probably fed on protoceratops; possibly related more closely to birds than to other dinosaurs
Word Origin
- velociraptor (n.)
- 1924, from Latin velox (genitive velocis) "swift, speedy" (see velocity) + raptor "robber" (see raptor). Fossil remains discovered in 1923 in the red Djadochta sandstone at Shabarakh Usu in Mongolia. The first (Fig. 1) of the typical megalosaurian type, although of small size, seems to have been an alert, swift-moving carnivorous dinosaur to which the generic name Velociraptor is applied. [Henry Fairfield Osborn, "Three New Therapoda, Protoceratops Zone, Central Mongolia," in "American Museum Novitates," Nov., 7, 1924]
Example
- 1. In the opening scene , when a velociraptor is let loose , an unnamed employee falls down and ends up getting eaten .
- 2. They now believe super-carnivores , such as tyrannosaurus rex and velociraptor - the two stars of the jurassic park movies - were the exception rather than the rule .
- 3. On the other hand , we see similar modifications ( even if not to the extent seen in balaur ) in relatively closely related taxa such as birds or velociraptor .
- 4. When he and his colleagues analysed these scrapings they realised that their shape suggested they had been made by the claws of predatory , feathered dinosaurs related to a well-known species called velociraptor .