saurians

Noun

saurian (plural saurians)

1. (properly) A reptile of the suborder Sauria.
   • I took heart, however, as I recalled a conversation between Challenger and Summerlee upon the habits of the great saurians.1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC
2. (especially, popularly) Any large reptilian animal, including crocodiles and reptilian aliens.
   • After dinner we all went on deck and watched the unfamiliar scenes of a Capronian night--that is, all but von Schoenvorts. There was less to see than to hear. From the great inland lake behind us came the hissing and the screaming of countless saurians. Above us we heard the flap of giant wings...1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter VI, in Hugo Gernsback, editor...
3. (figuratively) A lizardlike person.
   • He was one of the very few larger saurians in the émigré marshes.1974, Vladimir Nabokov, Look at the Harlequins!, page 130

See all 5 meanings of saurian