Dictionary:
car·nas·si·al (kär-năs'ē-əl)  |
Adapted for tearing apart flesh: carnassial teeth.
n.A tooth adapted for tearing apart flesh, especially one of the last upper premolar or first lower molar teeth in carnivorous mammals.
[From French carnassier, carnivorous, from Provençal, from carnasso, meat in abundance, from carn, flesh, from Latin carō, carn-.]
| 5min Related Video: Carnassials |
| WordNet: carnassial |
The adjective has one meaning:
Meaning #1:
(of a tooth) adapted for shearing flesh
| Wikipedia: Carnassial |
Carnassials are large teeth found in many carnivorous mammals, used for shearing flesh and bone in a scissor or shear-like way. In the Carnivora, the carnassials are the modified last upper premolar and the first lower molar, but in the prehistoric creodonts, the carnassials were further back in the jaw — first upper and second lower or second upper and third lower molars.
Large and pointy, the carnassial teeth are used to shear tough meats and crush bones. Devastation of the carnassial teeth in a wild carnivore (e.g. wolves, lions) may result in the death of the individual due to starvation.
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Copyrights:
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Carnassial". Read more |
