Gorgosaurus

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A genus of large, carnivorous theropod dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous period known for its robust build and formidable teeth
2. A prehistoric bipedal predator featuring strong jaws and sharp teeth, belonging to a group of North American tyrannosaurids
3. An extinct meat-eating dinosaur characterized by its powerful limbs and distinctive skull, part of a family related to the tyrannosaurus lineage

Etymology: Gorgosaurus was named in 1914 by Lawrence Lambe, a Canadian paleontologist, and the name's first half comes from the Ancient Greek "gorgós," meaning "grim," "fierce," or "terrible." That sense is the same one that gave us the Gorgons of myth, the snake-haired monsters whose gaze turned onlookers to stone. The second half, "-saurus," is the Greek word for "lizard," a suffix that paleontologists attach to nearly every dinosaur genus name. Put together, the name means roughly "fierce lizard," a fitting label for an animal related to the better-known Tyrannosaurus. Lambe's choice was a description of temperament as much as anatomy, pointing to the animal's large skull and sharp, crowded teeth.