a. (sb.) Comparative Anat. [f. F. carnassier carnivorous = Pr. carnacier, med.L. carnacerius butcher, bourreau, f. L. type *carnāce-us of or pertaining to flesh, f. carn-em flesh + -AL.]
A. adj. ‘Relating to flesh eating’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.); used of certain teeth of carnivorous animals, specially adapted for tearing flesh. B. as sb. A tooth adapted for eating flesh.
1849–52. Todd, Cycl. Anat. & Phys., IV. 907/1. The tooth … has a … carnassial modification of form. Ibid., 911/2. The fourth premolar is the carnassial tooth.
1854. Owen, in Circ. Sc. (c. 1865), II. 109/2. The lower carnassials of the lion.
1875. Blake, Zool., 78. The carnassial apparatus of these predaceous marsupials.
