Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
mammal [mam-uh l] ExamplesWord Origin See more synonyms for mammal on Thesaurus.com noun
- any vertebrate of the class Mammalia, having the body more or less covered with hair, nourishing the young with milk from the mammary glands, and, with the exception of the egg-laying monotremes, giving birth to live young.
Origin of mammal 1820–30; as singular of New Latin Mammalia neuter plural of Late Latin mammālis of the breast. See mamma2, -al1 Related formsmam·mal·like, adjective Related Words for mammal beast, creature, vertebrate Examples from the Web for mammal Contemporary Examples of mammal
The term “gestation,” for instance, is derived from the Latin verb gestāre, used to describe a mammal carrying a burden.
The Artificial Womb Will Change Feminism Forever
Samantha Allen
August 12, 2014
If you like mammal species from the suborder Vermilingua (meaning “worm tongue”)…
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Ben Teitelbaum
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The boy screamed a deep guttural scream that did not seem to belong to any mammal I knew of.
Sebastian Rich
October 16, 2010
But along with whales, their mammal cousins, dolphins may face more danger over the long term below the surface of the sea.
Eli Kintisch
May 7, 2010
Historical Examples of mammal
Also its bones were not those of a mammal, but the cartilagenous bones of a fish.
Astounding Stories of Super-Science September 1930
Various
Inside the body of the mammal this is impossible, because the air is too far away.
Samuel Christian Schmucker
So the allantois of the reptile has become the placenta of the mammal.
Samuel Christian Schmucker
That bolt, which would have shocked a mammal into insensibility, only slowed the Throg.
Andre Norton
It has thus the power of grasping a tree which no other mammal possesses.
W.H.G. Kingston
British Dictionary definitions for mammal mammal noun
- any animal of the Mammalia, a large class of warm-blooded vertebrates having mammary glands in the female, a thoracic diaphragm, and a four-chambered heart. The class includes the whales, carnivores, rodents, bats, primates, etc
Derived Formsmammalian (mæˈmeɪlɪən), adjective, nounmammal-like, adjectiveWord Origin for mammal C19: via New Latin from Latin mamma breast Word Origin and History for mammal n.
1826, anglicized form of Modern Latin Mammalia (1773), coined 1758 by Linnaeus for the class of mammals, from neuter plural of Late Latin mammalis “of the breast,” from Latin mamma “breast,” perhaps cognate with mamma.
mammal in Science mammal [măm′əl]
- Any of various warm-blooded vertebrate animals of the class Mammalia, whose young feed on milk that is produced by the mother’s mammary glands. Unlike other vertebrates, mammals have a diaphragm that separates the heart and lungs from the other internal organs, red blood cells that lack a nucleus, and usually hair or fur. All mammals but the monotremes bear live young. Mammals include rodents, cats, dogs, ungulates, cetaceans, and apes.