baboon

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of several large terrestrial African and Asian monkeys of the family Cercopithecidae, especially of the genus Papio or Chaeropithecus and related genera, characterized by an elongated, doglike muzzle, a short tail, and bare calluses on the buttocks.
2. n. Slang A brutish person; a boor.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A quadrumanous animal of the old world, of the subfamily Cynopithecinæ, and especially of either of the genera Cynocephalus (or Papio) and Mandrilla (or Mormon). The baboon has a large prominent muzzle and a low facial angle, constituting a physiognomy to which the term “dog-faced” has been applied. It has cheek-pouches, large canine teeth, tail usually short (whence the term “pig-tailed” applied to some), and large bare ischial callosities, often gayly colored. Its fore and hind limbs are proportionate, so that the animal can go upon all-fours like ordinary quadrupeds, or sit upright like most other monkeys. Baboons are generally large, heavy animals, some equaling a mastiff in size and weight, and are among the most sullen, intractable, ferocious, and filthy brutes of the order to which they belong. Most of them are African, and they are usually gregarious, going in large troops, and feeding on fruits, roots, birds' eggs, insects, etc. Among those which have special names are the anubis, chacma, mandrill, drill, etc. Some of the Quadrumana which belong technically to the same group as the baboons do not usually take the name, as the black ape of Celebes, Cynopithecus niger, and the Barbary ape, Inuus ecaudatus; while some monkeys of other groups are occasionally called baboons.

Wiktionary

1. n. zoology Mostly African primates. One of the Old World Quadrumana, of the genera Cynocephalus and Papio; the dog-faced ape. Baboons have dog-like muzzles and large canine teeth, cheek pouches, a short tail, and naked callosities on the buttocks.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Zoöl.) One of the Old World Quadrumana, of the genera Cynocephalus and Papio; the dog-faced ape. Baboons have dog-like muzzles and large canine teeth, cheek pouches, a short tail, and naked callosities on the buttocks. They are mostly African. See mandrill, and chacma, and drill an ape.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. large terrestrial monkeys having doglike muzzles