Mastodon

(mas'to-don.) [FromGr. mas tos, the breast, and odo us, odontis, a tooth.] (Pal.) A gen. of extinct pachyderms, nearly allied to the elephant, but with simple grinding teeth, adapted for bruising coarser vegetable substances. Several species have been described from the Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene strata, in N. America, Europe, and Asia. [s. 584]