behemoth bi-ˈhē-məth , -ˌmäth, -ˌmȯth noun
1. someone or something that is abnormally large and powerful
2. a person of exceptional importance and reputation
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The word behemoth has appeared in 199 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Sept. 2 in “First You Clean the Dinosaur’s Teeth. Then You Open the Museum” by Melena Ryzik:
Don’t expect to put your arm around Teddy Roosevelt for a selfie. Or poke a finger in a moon crater, or scrape the mighty jaw of a T. rex.
When the American Museum of Natural History reopens on Sept. 9, it will — like all cultural institutions that have been retrofitted for the Covid era — look and feel a little different.
… Touch screens are off, and so are the films at the Hayden Planetarium. The hall of meteorites will stay unexplored, and the small theater tucked underneath the long, long tail of the Titanosaur will remain empty. Under the behemoth’s outstretched neck last week, a museum staff member was testing an about-to-be deployed army of automatic hand sanitizer machines. Their robotic blurp is now part of the soundtrack to many exhibition halls.
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