Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A constellation in the Southern Hemisphere near Musca and Pavo.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One of the southern constellations formed in the sixteenth century, probably by Petrus Theodori; the Bird of Paradise. It is situated south of the Triangulum Australe, and its brightest star is of the fourth magnitude.
- n. A genus of branchiopodous or phyllopodous entomostracous crustaceans, typical of the family Apdidœ or Apusidœ: named (in the form Apous) by Frisch in 1732. Like nearly all animals which have been miscalled
Apoda or Apodes (footless), they have feet, these organs in the phyllopods ranging from 11 to 60 pairs. The genus is characterized by a large shield-like carapace, or cephalothorax in one piece, covering most of the animal. A. cancriformis, called the crab-shelled shrimp, is 2 or 3 inches long, and is noted for its repeated molts (it sheds its skin twenty times in two or three months), and for the vast numerical preponderance of the females, the males having been only recently discovered. - n. In ornithology: A genus of birds, of the family Cypselidœ, established by Scopoli in 1777: equivalent to Cypselus of Illiger, 1811.
- n. [lowercase] The specific name of the common swift of Europe, Cypselus apus.
- n. [lowercase; pl. api (ā'pī).] In teratology, a monster destitute of posterior limbs, while the anterior are well formed.
Wiktionary
- n. A taxonomic genus within the family Apodidae — the swifts. They resemble swallows but have shorter tails.
- n. astronomy : A constellation of the southern sky, said to resemble a bird of paradise.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Zoöl.) A genus of fresh-water phyllopod crustaceans. See phyllopod.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a constellation in the polar region of the southern hemisphere near Octans
- n. type genus
Etymologies
- Named by Dutch explorers Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman between 1595 and 1597. From Latin apūs, from Ancient Greek ἄπους (apous, "sand martin"), from ἀ- (a-, "not") + πούς (pous, "foot") (the birds rarely show their feet). (Wiktionary)
- Latin apūs, a kind of swallow, from Greek apous, without feet, sand martin : a-, without; see a-1 + pous, foot. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Their Latin name, Apus, comes from the Greek, meaning ‘without feet’.”
“As it turns out, "Apus" is a constellation, first depicted by Johann Bayer in 1603.”
“Some 35 raptors are found in the Batoka gorge below the falls: Taita falcon Falco fasciinucha breeds there as do black eagle Aquilla verreauxi, peregrine falcon Falco peregrinus, augur buzzard Buteo rufofuscatus augur also black stork Ciconia nigra and African swift Apus barbatus.”
“The alpine swift Apus melba africanus and alpine meadow lizard Algyroides alleni are near endemic.”
“In addition to the excellent points made by others to this entry that included the long history of this kind of depiction in political cartoons for racist objectives including the endless supply of Apus Lincolnus cartoons during and after the Civil War and his assassination and the content of Delonas's previous cartoons -- people who live in NYC bring to this particular cartoon a long history of white cops shooting unarmed black men.”
“Other species with an Afromontane distribution include bar-tailed trogon (Apaloderma vittatum), scarce swift (Schoutedenapus myioptilus), orange thrush (Zoothera gurneyi) and African black swift (Apus barbatus sladeniae).”
“The rare Fernando Po swift (Apus sladeniae) has been collected on Mt. Môco, and is considered data deficient.”
“Berthelot's pipit (Anthus berthelotii), plain swift (Apus unicolor), and common canary (Serinus canaria) are near-endemic to the Canary Islands Dry Woodlands and Forests.”
“Other birds include rock and cliff haunting species, such as alpine swift Apus melba, crag martin Hirundo rupestris and red-rumped swallow Hirundo daurica.”
“Two of the endemic bird species - the Cape Verde sparrow (Passer iagoensis) and Cape Verde swift (Apus alexandri) - are widely distributed in these islands and occur on at least nine of the ten major islands.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘Apus’.
-
Wordlist-1
Important words
atrabilious, allege, anxiety, architecture, ambitious, anxiously, albeit, accommodate, anonymity, amateur, apprehension, aire and 130 more...
-
Constellations
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) recognizes 88 official constellations.
Orion, Taurus, Andromeda, Aquila, Lyra, Boötes, Cygnus, Canis Major, Cassiopeia, Auriga, Lupus, Pyxis and 76 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for Apus.
Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.