Palæont. [mod.L., f. stem of Gr. τόρος adj. piercing, τόρος borer (f. τείρειν το pierce) + σαῦρος lizard.] A genus of horned dinosaurs, occurring in the Laramie formation in U.S.
1891. O. C. Marsh in Amer. Jrnl. Sc., XLII. 266. Torosaurus latus [described]. Ibid. (1892), XLIII. 82. The open perforations in the parietal which have suggested the name Torosaurus, readily separate this genus from all the gigantic species hitherto known in the Ceratopsidæ.
1908. Daily Chron., 20 Feb., 4/6. The largest skull of any known land animal,… is the skull of a new horned dinosaur, the torosaurus, and is 8 ft. 6 in. long and 5 ft. 8 in. across.
1908. Washington Post, 19 Jan., 3/8. Yale scientists have classed the torosaurus among the stupidest of the prehistoric animals, for with a skull on which a dozen students could sit, his brain was evidently not too large to be carried round in the palm of the hand.
