n. Any of various extinct, often gigantic, carnivorous or herbivorous reptiles of the orders Saurischia and Ornithischia that were chiefly terrestrial and existed during the Mesozoic Era.n. A relic of the past: "living dinosaurs of the world of vegetation” ( John Olmsted). n. One that is hopelessly outmoded or unwieldy: "The old, big-city teaching hospital is a dinosaur” ( Peggy Breault).