noun
1. : any of numerous extinct cats widely distributed in the Oligocene through the Pleistocene of both the Old and New World, differing from the typical cats chiefly in the extreme development of the upper canines into curved swordlike piercing or slashing weapons and in enlargement of the gape with corresponding muscular and skeletal changes, and constituting a distinct felid subfamily that reaches its climax in the New World Pleistocene genus Smilodon
2. : any of various chiefly No. American and Miocene or Pliocene cats of Nimravus and related genera that resemble but are less specialized than the typical saber-toothed tigers — called also false saber-toothed tiger