Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of several tropical American mammals of the family Myrmecophagidae that lack teeth and feed on ants and termites, especially the giant anteater.
- n. Any of several other animals, including the echidna, aardvark, and pangolin, that feed on ants.
Wiktionary
- n. Any of several animals, in suborder Vermilingua, which are noted for eating ants and termites which they catch with their long sticky tongues.
- n. A common term used of some other unrelated species that feed with ants, including pangolin (scaly anteater), echidna (spiny anteater), aardvark and numbat (banded anteater).
Etymologies
- ant + eater (Wiktionary)
Examples
“We've only visited the zoo once since we moved here, but the anteater is one of the animals I recall in particular.”
“I found that one thing Audrey told me was true - on the phone Hugh sounded like the blue anteater from the old Pink Panther show.”
“Except - the anteater was a cad, and Hugh was likely the finest man I'll ever meet.”
“I thought the ad was cleverly written and produced (the anteater was a cute touch) ... and utterly horrifying.”
“The numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus, VU) is a marsupial 'anteater' that is the only member of its entire family.”
“The Greek Echidna, the mother of monsters, identifies herself to the story's hero, Percy and he says, "Isn't that a kind of anteater?”
“For example, a tamandua, a kind of anteater, uses its long and curled claws to dig into insect mounds.”
“Sweden s Parken Zoo welcomed a baby giant anteater last month.”
The Huffington Post: WATCH: Adorable Baby Giant Anteater Born
“Sweden's Parken Zoo welcomed a baby giant anteater last month.”
The Huffington Post: WATCH: Adorable Baby Giant Anteater Born
“The male baby is the first giant anteater to be born in a zoo in Sweden, and has yet to be named.”
The Huffington Post: WATCH: Adorable Baby Giant Anteater Born
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘anteater’.
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Australasian mammals
Australasian mammals, monotremes, anteater, duckbill, echidna, giant anteater, ornithorhynchus, platypus, porcupine, water mole, carnivorous marsu..., banded anteater and 220 more...
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stripes and bands
variegated armadillos and other asundry bands and stripes
fajada, raye, apar, fasciated, hemigalus, numbat, onyx, tatouay, tortrix, coquina, peba, myrmecobius and 113 more...
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Bird Wirds: Sundry Nicknames
A list of birders' "shorthand" names, traditional nicknames, non-English names, and obsolete names for feathered creatures worldwide.
Interesting blog entry here on naming U.S. birds.welsh ambassador, goatsucker, french magpie, timberdoodle, butterbutt, popinjay, logcock, old cranky, long john, sprog, butterbum, wedgie and 697 more...
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Two years
Okay, I admit it. I made a list of words my daughter knew when she was two years old.
bat, baba, a, abalone, about, acorn, adrienne, after, again, airplane, alison, all and 694 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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Critters
cockle, cicada, appaloosa, brachiopod, bivalve, aye-aye, cygnet, alewife, chamois, ermine, drake, dugong and 381 more...
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A Day at the Zoo
Being animals, not necessarily limited to those commonly found in zoos.
chimpanzee, gorilla, elephant, giraffe, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, lion, tiger, bear, boa constrictor, cobra, monkey and 18 more...
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TheWordMaster's Words
book, shelf, hurray, party, computer, live, internet, virtual, cups, lips, kiss, hug and 26 more...
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emk's Words
highbrow, despicable, marshmallow, kitten, ace, fitting, charm, plush, nauseating, cataclysmic, velveteen, rugged and 42 more...
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at the zoo
platypus, reindeer, ermine, penguin, grouse, vulture, boa, mouse, moose, snake, rattler, bat and 63 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for anteater.
whichbe Anteaters prefer termites to ants. May 7, 2008
chained_bear Usage note:
"...leaving them on a broad veranda with a number of domesticated creatures on it, marmosets of three different kinds, an old bald toucan, a row of sleepy parrots, something hairy in the background that might have been a sloth or an anteater or even a doormat but that it farted from time to time, looking around censoriously on each occasion, and a strikingly elegant blue heron that walked in and out."
--Patrick O'Brian, The Far Side of the World, 177 Feb 21, 2008