a. and sb. Zool. [f. THECO- + Gr. ὀδούς ὀδοντ- tooth.] a. adj. Of or belonging to the Thecodontes, an extinct family of saurians having the teeth fixed in sockets in the jaw-bone. b. sb. A saurian having this character.
1840. Owen, Odontogr., II. iv. § 110. 266, (heading). Thecodonts. Ibid. A third mode of fixation is presented by some extinct Saurians,… the teeth being implanted in sockets…: these may be termed the ‘thecodont’ Lacertians: the most ancient of all Saurians belong to this group.
1876. Page, Adv. Text-bk. Geol., xv. 282. The thecodont saurians seem peculiar to the Permian.
1877. Le Conte, Elem. Geol., III. (1879), 404. In the coal, are also found now some Thecodont (socket-toothed) reptiles, allied to Crocodilians.
So Thecodontosaurian, adj. belonging to or characteristic of the thecodont saurians; sb. a member of this genus.
[1840. Owen, Odontogr., II. iv. § 112. 267. In the same formation as contained the jaw and teeth of the Thecodontosaurus.]
1869. Huxley, in Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc., XXVI. 44. The Thecodontosaurian ilium. Ibid. I shall speak of the bones as those of Thecodontosaurians.
