bongo

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He had heard that Baron Rothschild had offered a thousand pounds for a "bongo," a huge grass-eating animal, which no white man had ever seen; and he had taken a year's trip into the interior, with a train of a hundred and thirty natives, and had brought out the heads of forty different species, including a bongo--which the Baron did not get!

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Definitions (7)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A large, forest-dwelling antelope (Boocercus eurycerus) of central Africa, having a reddish-brown coat with white stripes and spirally twisted horns.
  2. noun One of a pair of connected tuned drums that are played by beating with the hands.

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Examples (50)

  • This is a description hanging by the side of the cage of something called a bongo: "They are seldom seen because of their extreme shyness and the markings on their sides and back make them blend into the shadows." —  The Informers
  • Eisenhower pressed the scientists of the Manhattan Project for a breakthrough (one of the key figures of the Project, Richard Feynman, had been sent to the swing tanks for his bongo-playing, leaving the Project fumbling), and success finally came in 1951, bringing a decisive end to the war. —  F ;SF; - vol 097 issue 01 - July 1999
  • Bentsen went straight from World War II into Congress, where he remained for almost 40 years before joining Dukakis and beating Dan Quayle like a bongo drum in the debates. —  Hot Air » Top Picks
  • The only vetting process the Democrats will accept re: Sarah Palin is to throw her in a lake and see if she floats (in which case she is clearly a witch and must be flogged, flayed and burned). beating Dan Quayle like a bongo drum in the debates —  Hot Air » Top Picks
  • But the guys who've billed themselves as "formerly New Zealand's fourth-most-popular guitar-based, digi-bongo, a-cappella, rap-funk-comedy folk duo" will likely perform plenty of the absurdist songs featured in the recently wrapped second season of the cult series. —  South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com - South Florida Recipes
 

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Probably of Bantu origin; akin to Lingala mongu, antelope.
  2. American Spanish bongó, probably of West African origin.
 

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