giraffe

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“
A college professor studying the habits of the giraffe, for example, and confining his observations to specimens in zoos, would inevitably come to the conclusion that the giraffe is a sedentary and melancholy beast, standing immovable for hours at a time and employing an Italian to feed him hay and cabbages.

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Definitions (8)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun An African ruminant mammal (Giraffa camelopardalis) having a very long neck and legs, a tan coat with orange-brown to black blotches, and short horns. It is the tallest land animal, often reaching a height of 5 meters (16 1/2 feet), and feeds principally by browsing in the tree canopy of wooded grasslands.

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Examples (50)

  • They're going to talk like their peers whether you like it or not.You can probably tell them that they have misunderstood what a giraffe is, and you might stop them from saying 'giraffe' when looking at a zebra.
  • This close relative of the giraffe is a frequent target of poachers and publicity hungry ZSL cameramen. —  ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science
  • It had long been accepted knowledge that the giraffe was made up of one species and several subspecies, however with Fennessy's work it now appears that several of the subspecies may in fact be distinct species. —  Mongabay.com News
  • Peacocks made another appearance on the other side of the giraffe area. —  Lemonade Life
  • Between 1989 and 2003 the ILRI scientists carried out monthly ground counts of seven ungulate species - giraffe, hartebeest, impala, warthog, topi, waterbuck, and zebra. —  BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French girafe, from Italian giraffa, from Arabic dialectal zirāfa, probably of African origin.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Formerly also jaraff: = D. G. Danish giraffe = Swedish girraff, from French giraffe = Italian giraffa, from Spanish Portuguese girafa (New Latin giraffa) = Persian zarāf- Hindustani zarāfa, from Arabic zarāf, zarāfa, zorāfa, a giraffe. In Middle English in the corrupted form gerfaunt, q. v.
 

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/dʒɪˈræf/
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