Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A ruminant forest mammal (Okapia johnstoni) of the Congo River basin in Africa, related to the giraffe but smaller and having a short neck, reddish-brown body, creamy white cheeks, and whitish stripes and bands on the legs.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A member of the giraffe family, discovered by Sir Harry Johnston, in 1902, in the forest region near Lake Albert, Africa. The general form of the okapi, which has been named Okapia johnstoni, is much like that of the giraffe, but the animal is decidedly smaller, and the neck and legs are shorter. The upper parts are dark purplish brown; forehead and ears reddish; sides of face nearly white; legs buff, the flanks and upper parts marked with horizontal blackish stripes resembling those of a zebra. It was described by Sclater in 1901 as Equus johnstoni, from two fragments of skin, and later by Lankester as Okapia johnstoni, from a skin and two skulls. All these specimens were secured by Sir Harry Johnston.
Wiktionary
- n. a large ruminant mammal, (Okapia johnstoni), found in the rainforests of the Congo, related to the giraffe, but with a much shorter neck, a reddish brown coat and zebra-like stripes on its hindquarters.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A peculiar mammal (Okapia johnstoni) closely related to the giraffe, discovered in the deep forests of Belgian Congo in 1900. It is smaller than an ox, and somewhat like a giraffe, except that the neck is much shorter. Like the giraffe, it has no dewclaws. There is a small prominence on each frontal bone of the male. The color of the body is chiefly reddish chestnut, the cheeks are yellowish white, and the fore and hind legs above the knees and the haunches are striped with purplish black and cream color.
WordNet 3.0
- n. similar to the giraffe but smaller with much shorter neck and stripe on the legs
Etymologies
- Perhaps of Mvuba (Nilo-Saharan language of Congo) origin.
Examples
“The okapi is a relatively unknown animal which is closely related to the giraffe.”
“The tongue of an okapi is long enough for the animal to wash its eyelids and clean its ears.”
“[...] okapi is a relatively unknown animal which is closely related to the giraffe.”
“Although she has 8 billion exotic stuffed animals (my mom volunteers at the zoo so she is our biggest source — for example we have an okapi, which is an obscure African animal, closely related to the giraffe, that I for one had never even heard of until recently), her monkey was her first love.”
“Besides being a bit of a weird-looking dude, the okapi is the only animal in the world that can clean its ears with its tongue.”
“CAFFERTY: The okapi is a relative of the giraffe, can be found in the nature of the rain forests in central Africa.”
“This is a new animal called the okapi, only discovered during the last fifty years in the dense forests of Africa, and its skin was stuffed and set up and is now here.”
“Does Daddy know that the okapi is a relative of the giraffe even though it looks much more like a horse or zebra?”
“The Zoological Society is running a project in Congo aimed at preserving the okapi, which is often hunted for its skin.”
“Markings on the animal's legs resemble that of a zebra, but the okapi is a member of the giraffe family.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘okapi’.
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stripes and bands
variegated armadillos and other asundry bands and stripes
fajada, raye, apar, fasciated, hemigalus, numbat, onyx, tatouay, tortrix, coquina, peba, myrmecobius and 112 more...
chained_bear Usage on Vu Quang ox. Sep 22, 2008