deinonychus

plural deinonychuses · plural deinonychi

1. A medium agile dinosaur, of the genus Deinonychus, of the Cretaceous period, characterized by having a large, curved claw on each hind foot.

   Bella kept half an eye out for the deinonychi. The deinonychus dinosaurs with the teeth and raking claws were big solid humans in the real.

   1994, Gwyneth Jones, North Wind, New York, N.Y.: Tor, published 1996, →ISBN, page 224

   2 more examples

   The first attempts were made on the remains of duckbill dinosaurs found in the Coleville River dig, but the real success was made when the University located the remains of three deinonychi at an Amoco drill site on the Alaskan North Slope.

   1990 November, Allen Steele, “Trembling Earth”, in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, volume 14, numbers 11–12 (whole 162–163), New York, N.Y.: Davis Publications, Inc., section 1 (The Mesozoic Express), page 64

   In that chamber, lying curled, or sitting hunched, were five saurians: two deinonychi and three smaller ones that looked like some kind of miniature tyrannosaur.

   1997, Diane Duane, The Book of Night with Moon, New York, N.Y.: Aspect, Warner Books, →ISBN, page 248

   Synonyms: velociraptor