Brontosaurus

brontosaur.
Historical Examples

Ralestone Luck Andre Norton
Dinosaurs William Diller Matthew
Letters on an Elk Hunt Elinore Pruitt Stewart
Tell England Ernest Raymond
Astounding Stories of Super-Science, October, 1930 Various
Omega, the Man Lowell Howard Morrow
The Book of the National Parks Robert Sterling Yard
Astounding Stories of Super-Science, October, 1930 Various
Our Elizabeth Florence A. Kilpatrick
Extinct Monsters H. N. Hutchinson

noun
any very large herbivorous quadrupedal dinosaur of the genus Apatosaurus, common in North America during Jurassic times, having a long neck and long tail: suborder Sauropoda (sauropods)
n.
brontosaurus (brŏn’tə-sôr’əs) or brontosaur
(brŏn’tə-sôr’əs)
An earlier name for apatosaurus.

Our Living Language : Take a little deception, add a little excitement, stir them with a century-long mistake, and you have the mystery of the brontosaurus. Specifically, you have the mystery of its name. For 100 years this 70-foot-long, 30-ton vegetarian giant had two names. This case of double identity began in 1877, when bones of a large dinosaur were discovered. The creature was dubbed apatosaurus, a name that meant “deceptive lizard” or “unreal lizard.” Two years later, bones of a larger dinosaur were found, and in all the excitement, scientists named it brontosaurus or “thunder lizard.” This name stuck until scientists decided it was all a mistake—the two sets of bones actually belonged to the same type of dinosaur. Since it is a rule in taxonomy that the first name given to a newly discovered organism is the one that must be used, scientists have had to use the term apatosaurus. But “thunder lizard” had found a lot of popular appeal, and many people still prefer to call the beast brontosaurus.

Brontosaurus [(bron-tuh-sawr-uhs)]