MAMMAL

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does mammal mean? 

• MAMMAL (noun)
  The noun MAMMAL has 1 sense:

1. any warm-blooded vertebrate having the skin more or less covered with hair; young are born alive except for the small subclass of monotremes and nourished with milk

  Familiarity information: MAMMAL used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MAMMAL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any warm-blooded vertebrate having the skin more or less covered with hair; young are born alive except for the small subclass of monotremes and nourished with milk

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

mammal; mammalian

Hypernyms ("mammal" is a kind of...):

craniate; vertebrate (animals having a bony or cartilaginous skeleton with a segmented spinal column and a large brain enclosed in a skull or cranium)

Meronyms (parts of "mammal"):

coat; pelage (growth of hair or wool or fur covering the body of an animal)

hair; pilus (any of the cylindrical filaments characteristically growing from the epidermis of a mammal)

Domain member category:

weaned (freed of dependence on something especially (for mammals) mother's milk)

anestrous ((of lower mammals) not in a state of estrus; not in heat)

estrous ((of lower mammals) showing or in a state of estrus; in heat)

plantigrade ((of mammals) walking on the whole sole of the foot (as rabbits, raccoons, bears, and humans do))

digitigrade ((of mammals) walking on the toes with the posterior part of the foot raised (as cats, dogs, and horses do))

mount; ride (copulate with)

biauriculate heart (a heart (as of mammals and birds and reptiles) having two auricles)

allantois (the vascular fetal membrane that lies below the chorion and develops from the hindgut in many embryonic higher vertebrates (reptiles, birds and mammals))

chorion (the outermost membranous sac enclosing the embryo in higher vertebrates (reptiles, birds and mammals))

amnion; amnios; amniotic sac (thin innermost membranous sac enclosing the developing embryo of higher vertebrates (reptiles, birds and mammals))

Amniota (higher vertebrates (reptiles, birds and mammals) possessing an amnion during development)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "mammal"):

female mammal (animals that nourish their young with milk)

tusker (any mammal with prominent tusks (especially an elephant or wild boar))

prototherian (primitive oviparous mammals found only in Australia and Tasmania and New Guinea)

metatherian (primitive pouched mammals found mainly in Australia and the Americas)

eutherian; eutherian mammal; placental; placental mammal (mammals having a placenta; all mammals except monotremes and marsupials)

fossorial mammal (a burrowing mammal having limbs adapted for digging)

Holonyms ("mammal" is a member of...):

class Mammalia; Mammalia (warm-blooded vertebrates characterized by mammary glands in the female)

 Context examples 

While mammal backbones are specialized, the regions that underlie them were believed to be ancient, dating back to the earliest land animals.

(What makes a mammal a mammal? Our spine, say scientists, National Science Foundation)

The intracellular NOD-like receptor (NLR) family contains more than 20 members in mammals and plays a pivotal role in the recognition of intracellular ligands.

(NOD-Like Receptor Signaling Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/KEGG)

The mature NTF3 peptide is identical in all mammals examined including human, pig, rat, and mouse.

(Neurotrophin 3, NCI Thesaurus)

Even when taking in fewer calories and nutrients, humans and other mammals usually remain protected against infectious diseases they have already encountered.

(Memory T cells shelter in bone marrow, boosting immunity in mice with restricted diets, National Institutes of Health)

These features indicate that Rapetosaurus grew as rapidly as a newborn mammal and was only a few weeks old when it died.

(Newly discovered baby Titanosaur sheds light on dinosaurs' early lives, NSF)

A reductase then reduces the fatty acid, leaving a trans-3 double bond in mammals.

(Oxidation of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

It's been known for years that humans and other mammals possess an antiviral gene called RSAD2 that prevents a remarkable range of viruses from multiplying.

(Scientists Discover How Antiviral Gene Works, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The researchers found that protocadherins are 10 times more common in octopus genes than in mammals.

(First-ever octopus genome sequenced, NSF)

The common routes of absorption in mammals include the organs of the respiratory and gastrointestinal systems, and the skin.

(Biological Absorption, NCI Thesaurus)

It is also an endogenous neurotransmitter in many animals including mammals.

(Bombesin, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)