gibbon

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of several small arboreal apes of the genus Hylobates of southeast Asia and the East Indies, having a slender body, long arms, and no tail.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The common name of the long-armed apes of the genus Hylobates, subfamily Hylobatinæ, and family Simiidæ. These apes have a remarkably slender body, with very long slim limbs, especially the fore limbs or arms, which almost touch the ground when the animal stands erect; the tail is rudimentary, and there are ischial callosities. In some respects the gibbons approach man very closely. They inhabit the East Indian archipelago and the peninsular mainland, and are extremely agile, swinging themselves in the trees like the spider-monkeys of the new world. There are several species, one of the best-known of which is Hylobates lar, inhabiting Tenasserim and a wide extent of adjoining country, of a blackish color marked with white on the face and hands. The hoolock (H. hoolock) is another, found in Assam and neighboring regions. The crowned gibbon is H. pileatus of Siam. Sumatra has a gibbon (H. agilis) noted for uttering musical sounds, and variously called wou-wou, oungha, ungaputi, unkaputi, etc. The most notable gibbon is the Sumatran siamang (H. siamanga or Siamanga syndactyla), which has two of its toes webbed. See these names, also ape, Hylobates.

Wiktionary

1. n. A small ape of the family Hylobatidae with long limbs, which it uses to travel through rainforests by swinging from branch to branch.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Zoöl.) Any arboreal ape of the genus Hylobates, of which many species and varieties inhabit the East Indies and Southern Asia. They are tailless and without cheek pouches, and have very long arms, adapted for climbing.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. English historian best known for his history of the Roman Empire (1737-1794)
2. n. smallest and most perfectly anthropoid arboreal ape having long arms and no tail; of southern Asia and East Indies