addax

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. An antelope (Addax nasomaculatus) of northern Africa having long, spirally twisted horns.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The native name of a species of African antelope, a ruminant, hoofed, artiodactyl quadruped, of the subfamily Antilopinæ, family Bovidæ; the Antilope addax of Lichtenstein, Oryx addax of some, Oryx nasomaculatus of others, now Addax nasomaculatus: the word addax thus becoming technically a generic name, after having been a technical specific term, as well as originally a vernacular appellation. The addax is about 6 feet long, and about 3 feet high at the shoulder; stout in the body, like the ass; and with horns 3 or 4 feet long, slender, ringed, spirally twisted into two or three turns, and present in both sexes. The ears and tail are long, the latter terminated by a switch of hair; there are tufts of hair upon the throat, forehead, and tear-bag; the hoofs are large and semicircular, adapted for treading upon the shifting sands of the desert. The general color of the animal is whitish, with a reddish-brown head and neck, black-hoofs, and a white blaze on the face, whence the name nasomaculatus. The addax is related to the oryx, but is generically as well as specifically distinct. The identity of this animal with that mentioned by Pliny (see etymology), though known to Gesner, was overlooked by subsequent naturalists until rediscovered by the travelers Rüppell, Hemprich, and Ehrenberg, who found the animal known to the natives under a name like that ascribed to the strepsiceros by Pliny.
2. n. A genus of antelopes of the subfamily Oryginæ, of which the addax A. nasomaculatus, is the only species.

Wiktionary

1. n. zoology One of the largest African antelopes (Hippotragus, ∨ Oryx, nasomaculatus). It is now believed to be the Strepsiceros (twisted horn) of the ancients. By some it is thought to be the pygarg of the Bible.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Zoöl.) One of the largest African antelopes (Hippotragusnasomaculatus or Oryx nasomaculatus).

WordNet 3.0

1. n. large antelope with lightly spiraled horns of desert regions of northern Africa