Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A South American ruminant mammal (Lama guanicoe), related to the llama and having soft, fine wool.
  • noun The wool of this mammal.
  • noun Fabric made from this wool.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The largest species of wild llama, Auchenia huanaco, standing nearly 4 feet high at the shoulder and attaining a length of from 7 to 8 feet. See Auchenia.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) A South American mammal (Auchenia huanaco), allied to the llama, but of larger size and more graceful form, inhabiting the southern Andes and Patagonia. It is supposed by some to be the llama in a wild state.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A South American ruminant, Lama guanicoe; closely related to the other lamoids, the alpaca, llama, and vicuña in the taxonomic family Camelidae.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun wild llama

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Spanish, from Quechua huanaco.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Spanish guanaco, from Quechua wanaku.

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Examples

  • Get your cute fix with a rescued baby dolphin and a newborn guanaco, which is a llama-like creature native to South America.

    Animal Photos Of The Week Travis Walter Donovan 2010

  • Get your cute fix with a rescued baby dolphin and a newborn guanaco, which is a llama-like creature native to South America.

    Animal Photos Of The Week The Huffington Post News Team 2010

  • Get your cute fix with a rescued baby dolphin and a newborn guanaco, which is a llama-like creature native to South America.

    Animal Photos Of The Week Travis Walter Donovan 2010

  • In appearance the guanaco is the personification of gentleness.

    The Minds and Manners of Wild Animals A Book of Personal Observations William Temple Hornaday 1895

  • (evidently a corruption of "guanaco"), one of their modes is to lie in wait for it on the limb of a tree which projects over the path taken by these animals, the habit of which is to follow one another in single file, and along old frequented tracks.

    The Land of Fire A Tale of Adventure Mayne Reid 1850

  • Sara Clemence/The Wall Street Journal A guanaco at rest Our guide led us along a pleasant and sometimes hilly path; we paused to examine a delicate porcelain orchid and to gasp at views.

    So Far, So Good Sara Clemence 2012

  • Hiking in this vast, unspoiled wilderness is one of life's most invigorating experiences as crisp air fills your lungs, condors circle overhead and skittish guanaco check you out from across the grassy pampas.

    Donna Heiderstadt: The Joys of Wandering Off the Beaten Path Donna Heiderstadt 2010

  • Terrestrial mammals are abundant with large herds of guanaco Lama guanicoe existing almost everywhere in the Península.

    Península Valdés, Argentina 2008

  • But the true joy of travel is more often found in off-the-beaten-path destinations where the towns have no traffic lights and the "crowds" consist of herds of grazing guanaco or regiments of 600-year-old stone statues.

    Donna Heiderstadt: The Joys of Wandering Off the Beaten Path Donna Heiderstadt 2010

  • The vicuña (Vicugna vicugna) – which along with the domesticated llama (Lama glama), the alpaca (Lama pacos), and the wild guanaco (Lama guanicoe) is one of four distinctive camel species found in the Tropical Andes – represents an important conservation success story for this hotspot.

    Biological diversity in the Tropical Andes 2009

Comments

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  • "...men who know the road and who could show you prodigious prospects of snow, rock and ice, volcanoes, bears, guanacoes, vicuñas, eagles..."

    --O'Brian, The Wine-Dark Sea, 152

    March 14, 2008

  • Look like alpacas to me. Are rather dainty.

    September 25, 2008

  • "In the mountains behind Ushuaia lived the Selk'nam (also known as Ona) Indians, guanaco-robed hunters of the harsh Fuegean mountains and plains, whom the Yamana feared."

    iThe Future of Ice by Gretel Ehrlich, p 13 of the Vintage paperback edition

    August 2, 2019